Three Species, One War
by PandaTrueno86
Summary: Two of Cinema's Iconic Extraterrestrial species threaten the existence of Mankind. One spawning an empire across the globe, the other hunting not just that very same empire, but Mankind itself. Takashi and his friends will survive, struggle, adapt, and fight in a World that will become the battlefield for these two horrific species.
1. The two become one

I do not own rights to the Alien/Predator Franchise, or H.O.T.D. They belong to 20th Century Fox and Kadokawa Shoten. Various real-life products will be mentioned throughout the story and I also don't own the rights to those either, they belong to their respective companies.

_**The near future...**_

_**Earth...**_

_**San Francisco, CA...**_

_**10:30AM...**_

The city was alive and thriving. It was sunny, but not scorching. A slight cold breeze could be felt all around as the various people who lived in this hilly metropolis went along with their daily routines. The streets had so much diversity to the people who walked or drove through them.

People in business suits walking briskly to their office jobs.

A police officer writing an occasional ticket.

That street bum kneeling down against the wall shaking a cup begging for change.

Hip teenagers skipping school just to enjoy the day.

This was just an example of the many people who live in this city. For many, it was just another day. But nobody would suspect that this day would be the start of a new chapter for the history of mankind. In the very center of the city, a press conference was being held in a skyscraper much taller than any building there. Its design was modern, meant to represent the future of where technology will go overtime. This building was a headquarters to one of two of the World's greatest companies in exsistence: Weyland Industries.

At the very top floor, dozens of reporters, photographers, and camera crews were gathered and gave their entire attention to the man before them, the founder Peter Weyland.

He was a tall, clean cut man, his dark brown hair was slick and combed back. His eyes were an icy blue, they demanded attention to anyone who would look at him. He appeared to be in his 40's, and his face showed confidence.

Mr. Weyland sat behind his large desk, his hands resting on his lap. He wore a grey suit with a white tie. He scanned the room and had a small smile on his face at the number of people who showed, some photographers took quick notice of his smile and snapped a few pictures.

"People of the press, I welcome you to my headquarters." Peter spoke. His voice had a slight rasp, but still spoke so elegantly.

"Ever since I founded this company, my aim was simple: To build a better world." He stood up from his chair and began to look out the large window behind him that overlooked San Fransico. "Since the beginning of our time, we have progressed. For the worse of mankind..."

He turned to look back at the press.

"...And for the good of mankind."

Peter walked alongside his desk with his finger trailing on the edge.

"When the year 2000 hit, you could say the formation of this company was similar to that of The Dawn of Man. So much potential to what it could be."

A couple minutes into this press conference, and already the press was intrigued at Mr. Weylands choice of words.

"Year after year in the first decade, I have given the world medicene, energy, electronics, & weaponry. I was praised and critizied for my offerings." Peter went to pick up a glass of water and took a quick sip before he continued with his speech.

"At the same time, a woman on the other side of the world had a much similar aim. A Ms. Chiyeko Yutani." Peter chuckled before he went on to continue. "She gave us clean air to breathe, healed our planet from pollution, and given people who were once paralyzed the ability to walk again."

Peter paused to think. Yutani Corpation's gift to make people walk again was definitely on par with Weyland Industries success at finding a cure for cancer.

He then continued his speech. "Many people call her my rival, a threat to my company." He shook his head.

"No."

The press had various looks of confusion. What did he mean no?

"Yutani to me, is an asset. And vice versa." Peter smiled again as he could hear whispers amongst the reporters as to where this was going to.

"You see ladies and gentlemen, Weyland Industries and Yutani Corporation have admired each other from afar. What one failed to accomplish, the other did. We have grown to respect each other."

There was a hunch as to where this is going.

"I'm sure all of you have heard the phrase 'two heads are better than one'." The press couldn't help but laugh at such a childish phrase be uttered by a man with such a well known background.

"Well, indeed two heads ARE better than one. Myself, and hers."

Peter walked to the front of his desk, he was ready to make his announcement to the world.

"Chiyeko and I have merged our companies into one. We are now Weyland-Yutani Corporation. Now, are there any questions?" He asked.

Reporters raised their hands and shooked them violently as if they were children who knew the answer to a math question in school. Some were shouting to get Peter's attention. After a brief scan around the room, he pointed at a young blonde reporter.

"Mr. Weyland! Does this mean you'll be moving to Tokyo, or will Yutani come here?" She shouted, trying to speak over other reporters trying to quiet down.

Peter raised his hand slightly above the air, motioning people to silence the chatter.

"I will still remain in San Francisco, just as she will still live in Tokyo. But you can be sure we will visit one another quite often." He replied.

Peter pointed at another reporter, a man was slightly older than the blonde.

"What new projects will you two be working on?" The man asked.

Peter smiled.

"I'm sure you remember 4 years prior, both of our companies have turned a sience fiction concept into reality. For those who do not know what I am talking about, it was creating an artificial person."

There were a few nods coming from the reporters, they know all too well about the 'Snyths'.

"Those artificial people have become quite the assistants." Peter began. "They have helped us with construction, medical science, research, security, and conflict."

Snyths were short for Synthetics, they were simply androids that were all too identical to an actual human. They weren't as common to find, Only organizations and people with extreme wealth could be able to afford a synth. If you were a doctor, they made an amazing nurse. If you were a construction worker, they would do the more difficult tasks that a normal person would hesitate on doing. And if you were a general? Well, let's just say enough blood has been spilled.

"Well, Yutani and I have both agreed that one day, our earth will die." Peter continued. "And we both have the same vision for the future."

_**Tokyo, Japan...**_

It was night on the other side of the world, but still the land of the rising sun had a busy nightlife. In a penthouse, a woman was sitting on a sofa, watching the live television broadcast of Mr. Weylands press conference. She covered herself in a robe, as if she were ready for bed. This was Chiyeko Yutani.

"Terraforming." She said to herself quietly, completing the final word Peter was going to say.

In the morning, she will have a press conference much similar to Peter's about the merge. It was actually their projects of creating synthetics that brought them together. Weyland had the tools, Yutani had the men. Rumors circulated for years since about the possibility of them working together.

And now they have.

Very pleased at how Peter's speach turned out to be, she decided to turn off the television and go to sleep. As she too, had a speech explaining her side of the merge. As she approached her bedroom, she decided to step outside her balcony. The view overlooked all of Tokyo, but her interest was in the sky.

The moon, the stars, all of space. The human race has done all it can for Earth, questions that have already been answered. The general public often doesn't care whether or not they are alone in the universe, but after recent findings from both science research divisions of Weyland and Yutani prior the merge, they both want to know what exactly is out there.

_**To be continued...**_


	2. The calm before the storm Pt 1

Well folks, Sorry if Chapter 1 didn't introduce your favorite characters, I wanted to create a little backstory to set the stage up! But don't worry, this chapter will head into familar territory. I noticed some HOTD fanfics try to recreate the story from different starting points that are all too familiar. While I will use characters and locations already introduced, I intend to make this story original from beginning, middle, and end.

Anyways, let's get Chapter 2 started!

_**8:45AM...**_

_**Tokonosu City, Japan...**_

"Today feels so good." Takashi said to himself quietly. Today was the start of a holiday, no school for a week. He was laying down underneath a tree that gave him shade. He was relieved to be wearing a yellow T-Shirt that said 'Ducati' on the front and some faded ripped jeans, instead of his highschool uniform.

Takashi decided to spend this sunny day at the city park, not wanting to waste it at home playing video games, watching TV, or sleeping.

He looked around at the various activities going on. At a distance he could see small children enjoying the playground, Takashi couldn't help but chuckle. A little bit away and to his right were slightly older children enjoying a game of soccor out on the field.

Nothing much was going on...Until he saw a young couple walk by. They appeared to be of high school age, they didn't look familar so Takashi guessed they were from a different school across town.

The couple just looked so happy together as they walked by. It made him feel a slight emotional pain inside, but he couldn't look away from them. Their laughter, their smile, how close they were together as they held hands. All it did was remind Takashi of her.

Rei Miyamoto.

Takashi closed his eyes, he had to think of something else. _Shit, not this feeling again. C'mon you! Think of something else. Like what to do for the holiday. I wonder what Rei is doing? NO! Uhhh, who can I hang out with? I'd ask Rei if we could do something, but most likely she would bring Hisashi. Dammit! Not again! Ok ummm..._

"God you look like such a loser when you're by yourself." Said a familiar voice.

Takashi snapped out of his deep thought and looked at the where the voice came from. It came from his friend, Saya Takagi. She stood in front of Takashi with a hand on her hip. She wore dark blue jeans and her t-shirt had the same color pink as her hair. She didn't have on her glasses, so she must have been wearing her contacts. Though Takashi didn't really care.

Takashi smiled. "Well if I'm a loser, then you're a loser too for wanting to hang out with one."

Saya stuck her tongue out. "Whatever." She teased.

She kneeled down next to him underneath the tree. "What's up?" She asked.

Takashi shrugged, he called Saya before he left for the park because he didn't want to spend today alone, even if it meant doing nothing but sit under the tree.

"I dunno." He answered. "I was hoping you would have any ideas." Takashi looked at Saya, waiting for a response. Even if it would be a rude one.

Saya rolled her eyes. "Well, get up. I'd rather go out for a walk instead of staying underneath this tree doing nothing but sit next to you all day." She said as she pulled Takashi up.

There was silence between the two as they left the park, it wasn't really awkward for them as Saya knew Takashi was the laidback type that mostly listened, but Takashi decided to ask Saya a question.

"So what's your plans for the holiday?" He asked.

Saya looked down on the sidewalk as she walked alongside Takashi.

"Whatever it is, I'm spending it alone. My parents flew to Tokyo for a meeting." She replied. Takashi noticed her tone had some disappointment in it.

The two walked over a bridge that would take them into town. A car would occasionally drive past them, kicking up a slight gust of wind blowing back their hair. Takashi would re-adjust his hair so it would avoid his eyes and see better. Saya's two pony tails would flow gently for a while before they sank down on both sides of her head.

"What's the meeting about?" Takashi asked.

Saya didn't really want to talk about it, but at the same time she felt like venting.

"Did you hear about the company merge?" She asked.

Takashi shook his head.

Saya wasn't surprised. "I figured." She asked. Whether or not Takashi wanted to hear about the merge, she decided to explain it to him.

"Last night, Weyland Industries announced that they would be joining forces with Yutani Corporation with plans to shape the future." She explained.

Takashi tilted his head. "Ok? And what does that have to do with your parents?"

"My dad is against the idea of an American company setting up base here. He's meeting with other councilmen throughout the prefecture to prevent them from building. And my mom is just keeping him company." She answered.

Saya didn't really care about about the merge, it just bothered her that she would be left alone for a week. At least she had Takashi to spend some time with, even if it meant doing nothing but walk around.

Takashi looked ahead at the end of the street. A Sevenson mini-mart was just ahead of them. "You thirsty?" He asked.

Saya did feel like her throat was drying up, prior to her leaving home she had an argument with her mother. "A little, why?" She asked.

Takashi pointed ahead to the store.

"You're paying." Saya winked.

_**11:30AM...**_

"Alright guys, let's go!"

BANG! BANG!

BOOM!

RATATATATATA!

"Damn, this is intense!"

Kohta Hirano was looking around at his surroundings. Explosions, bullets flying everywhere, his comrades dying!

"Ok, who's still alive!" He shouted over the gunfire.

"I am!" Nigel, his teammate from the UK yelled.

"I'm still here, a little fucked up though!" Kyle, a friend from the southern U.S. replied.

"Locked and loaded!" Miguel, a comrade living in Brazil said. He gave Kohta and his teammates a thumbs up, signaling he was still in the fight.

There were four of them remaining. After ten minutes of a bloody conflict, they finally left the docks and were just outside a warehouse. If they had to go inside the warehouse to disable the last M-COM station, this would mean fighting in closequarters. Dammit, he wasn't going to lose!

"Ok guys, listen up! We're going up close and personal with the enemy, they're not holding back. But we came this far." Kohta said. He and Nigel were on one side of the entrance, Miguel and Kyle on the other.

Nigel inserted a new clip in his USAS-12 Shotgun. Instead of usual shells, they were frag shells. "Hey, I'll take them out, you guys get behind me." He told Kohta.

Kohta looked at Nigel, he trusted his friend that he would wipe out the two enemy soldiers inside. Kohta looked back at Kyle and Miguel, they both nodded and agreed Nigel would go in first.

Kohta switched places with Nigel, letting him be just outside the down.

"Ok, you ready Nigel?" Kohta asked.

Nigel looked back and nodded.

"One...Two...THREE!"

Nigel stormed in, just before the enemy soldiers were about to lift their weapons, he pulled the trigger on his USAS-12. The frag shell incinerated them, leaving nothing but their charred bodies.

Kohta followed closely behind, he noticed to the right a solider jumping out of some crates. The soldier shot a round from his AK-47 and it whizzed past Kohta's face.

Kohta took a step back and pivoted his body towards the soldier, he pointed his M82 Sniper Rifle at the soldier and without having look down at the scope, shot at the attacking soldier. It was a clean shot, the head was split in two. The soldier's brains were splattered on the wall behind him, the soldier's left eye spilled onto the ground.

Kohta smiled at his headshot, that would be a kill to talk about with his other friends and teammates.

Kohta and Nigel were leaning up against a large metal container. They took a quick peak out the corner to make sure there were no more enemy soldiers. When the coast was clear, they motioned Kyle and Miguel to come inside and join them.

They nodded in responsed and quietly walked in.

At the other end of the warehouse was the M-COM station. The final objective was to destroy it!

Kohta looked back at his team. "Nigel keep an eye on the high grounds, Kyle and Miguel, you watch my six. Got it?"

"No problem." Kyle answered.

The four slowly inched their way closer to the M-COM. For such a large warehouse, it sure was quiet. Kohta refused to let an inch of his guard down, he was prepared for another shootout.

After what seemed like hours, the four teammates were in front of the M-COM. What was inside was information about bases that the enemy could bomb should they ever launch an airstrike. That was Kohta's mission, to destroy the M-COM and prevent a blow to his friends on the other side of enemy lines.

"Miguel, plant a charge, we'll cover you." Kohta whispered.

Miguel reached inside his bag and pulled out a C4 Explosive charge, it was enough to destroy the M-COM. As he pressed the charge up against the machine, the other three shifted their eyes at the large door up ahead, waiting for a possible ambush.

"Ok, charge is in place. Let's go." Miguel said.

Just as the four teammates were about to leave, an alarm screamed all around the warehouse!

"SHIT! WE GOT CAUGHT!" Kyle yelled.

Kohta looked ahead, on both sides of the main entrance dozens of enemy soldiers entered and scattered about looking for cover. It was an ambush!

"TAKE COVER! WE NEED TO DESTROY THE M-COM!" Kohta ordered.

Bullets zipped by each of the teammates as they found their own sources of cover.

"KYLE! GIVE US SOME SUPPRESSING FIRE!" Kohta yelled at he fired shot after shot, taking down two soldiers in the process

Kyle popped out from a crate, and with controlled bursts, he fired his G36C. Three enemy soldiers took cover behind a container, barely avoiding death.

"MIGUEL! HOW MANY GRENADES YOU GOT?" Kohta looked back, waiting for a reply.

"I GOT FOUR!" Miguel answered back over the gunfire.

Miguel took a few steps forward and threw a cooked grenade, detonating within impact. Three soldiers were caught in the explosion, killing them instantly.

"THIRTY SECONDS!" Miguel reminded the other three.

Just as Miguel was about to re-focus on the iron sight of his FAMAS, he was shot in the heart.

Blood splattered on Nigel's face.

"Shit!' He yelled to himself. As he wiped the blood off his face, he looked at his hand and was stunned.

"KOHTA! MIGUEL IS DE-"

Nigel's sentence was cut shot, as he too was shot. Kohta and Kyle were side by side, giving the enemy everything they got in their arsenal. They were so close to accomplishing their mission!

"Well Kyle, it's just you and me." Kohta said to Nigel as he fired more shots with his M82.

Kyle was shot too, in the stomach. He was coughing up blood and it dripped heavily from his chin down to his chest, sitting up against the wall, there was still some fight in him to fire rounds at the enemy.

"I'm not gonna see this mission through, but dammit I'll fight!" He said to himself.

Kyle's vision was blurry, he saw three of his G36C shaking in a row. He couldn't be able to keep focus so he randomly shot at everyone in front of him. One of the soldiers noticed his dying condition and took this as an opportunity to fire a headshot at Kyle, ending his last stand.

Kohta was alone. Tears were streaming down his face, from sadness and anger. He quickly reloaded his M82 and before he could even pull the trigger, he was shot in the leg.

Kohta squeezed his eyes shut in pain, but opened them to continue the fight. He crawled backwords until he leaned up against the M-COM.

"**10**"

Kohta focused his sights through the scope.

"**9**"

He dropped his rifle as he was shot in the arm.

"**8**"

Reaching for his sidearm with his one good arm.

"**7"**

He cocked his M9.

"**6"**

Kohta pointed it at the closest soldier.

"**5**"

But before he could pull the trigger.

"**4**"

He was shot in the lung.

"**3**"

He looked up ahead.

"**2**"

And saw he was surrounded by the enemy.

"**1**"

Before they could finish him off.

There was a white light.

And everything went to black.

'YOUR TEAM WINS'

Flashed in front of the screen. Kohta took a huge sigh of relief at the victory he had. _God, I love this game!_ He thought to himself. Battlefield 3 WAS quite addicting.

Kohta adjusted his bluetooth headset to took with his three teammates that he has never even saw or met.

"Ok guys, who's up for another round of Rush?" He asked with great enthusiasm.

_**To be continued...**_


	3. The calm before the storm Pt 2

Alright, Part 2 of The calm before the storm is here. What are Saeko, Alice, Shizuka, Rei, and Zero are up to? Well...Find out! Also please pardon the late posting. I've been doing extensive research on the HOTD, Alien, and Predator universes.

_**Noon...**_

_**Streets of Tokonosu...**_

A young pup was lost and about. He showed no sign of fear that he separated from his owner, he was excited on this new adventure. The pup scampered underneath the legs of pedestrians walking along the street, completely unaware that this small dog was going through them.

*Sniff Sniff*

There was a faint smell of meat nearby, the pup lowered his nose to the ground, looking for the source of this wonderful smell. His tiny nose would wiggle very rapidly, not to mention his tail wagging back and forth as the pup followed where ever the scent would take him.

The smell was getting stronger, the pup's tongue was daggling out of his mouth, drooling. He was getting so close! He reached his destination when the smell was so great, that he could almost taste the meat on his tastebuds.

The pup looked up, the smell was coming from a restaurant. Unlike other dogs that would rush in and grab the biggest hunk of meat they could find, the pup wanted to be sneaky to avoid detection.

He peeked inside. It was lunchtime and alot of people were inside, enjoying their own meals. Chatter and laughter could be heard all throughout the restaurant.

"God, I need to stop skipping breakfast."

"Waiter? Refill please."

"Oh my god, just look at her. Does she actually think she looks hot in THAT!"

"Uhhh I didn't order steak, I ordered ham."

The pup noticed a bus boy was about to pass by the entrance. As soon as he got close enough, the pup made a quick dash under the cart the bus boy was pushing. Thankfully, he was small enough that nobody would notice.

He had to be quick in order to stay underneath, but at such a youthful and playful age, that wouldn't slow him down. Especially if meat was nearby.

The bus boy came to a stop, and so did the pup. He quickly took a peek from underneath the cart to see that the bus boy was picking up dirty plates and putting them onto the cart. Just as the bus boy put the final dish in the cart, a half eaten chicken leg fell onto the floor. The pup saw the leg laying right in front of him, his mouth watering. No more hiding, it was time to eat!

The pup dashed from underneath the cart and with a big chomp he grabbed the chicken leg and ran out of the restaurant before anyone would catch him. The pup was victorious, he had claimed his meal for the day.

The pup lifted his ears to hear his master calling for him. He could always eat on the way back to her.

_**1:30PM...**_

Rei Miyamoto was pacing back and forth at a bus stop. Instead of her normal high school uniform, she was wearing flip flops, a jean skirt, a black tank top, and a white zip up hoodie. Her boyfriend Hisashi made plans for a date for the afternoon. And prior to the spring holiday, they never had any time to see each other after school for nearly a month. This was a much needed chance for them to be alone together. As she leaned up against a guard rail, Rei heard loud engines rumbling towards her. She looked up to see multiple semi trucks with the newly created Weyland Yutani logo on them. They drove by her in a convoy.

Rei didn't care for the trucks, or the company they belong to. She found the noise slightly annoying however. An hour earlier while Rei was dressing up for her date, she had her Television on and while she paid no real attention, a news report stated that Weyland-Yutani was planning on building a facility just outside from the city. Ms. Yutani had a press conference early in the morning announcing her part of the merge with Weyland Industries.

Yutani Corp announced that several major cities in Japan have been selected for expanding Weyland-Yutani's operations. It should also be noted that these cities are also where Japan's brightest minds live in. Tokonosu was one of them.

Rei kicked a small pebble and sighed. Minutes seemed like hours to her when it came to waiting for Hisashi. She looked up again to see a bus driving towards her. She looked at the time on her phone, Hisashi should be right on time.

The bus slowed to a stop, the doors on the sides opened for people to get off at the stop. Several people did. Two young teens jumped out, one of them was carrying a soccer ball. A mother holding hands with her daughter who appeared to be no older than five. A slightly older teen dressed up as if he was ready to work at a fish market. And finally, Hisashi.

Hisashi was well dressed up himself. He had on white skater shoes, light brown cargo shorts, and a button up shirt.

Rei smiled. "You made it!" She said as she skipped towards Hisashi to give him a hug.

Rei and Hisashi hugged each other for a minute straight. God it was so long that they had this sort time together. Whenever Hisashi was with Rei, she just felt so complete. Rei and Hisashi slowly parted from their hug, but still had their arms wrapped around each other. The couple looked at each other with an expression of happiness and love. Hisashi brushed some hair away from Rei's face.

"God, you're so beautiful." He whispered to her.

Rei blushed from his cute remark. She stepped up on her toes to give Hisashi a kiss, which he gladly returned. Rei never mentioned this to Hisashi, but whenever she kissed him, she imagined this aura around them that felt so warm and bright. They slowly parted lips to look at each other again.

"Thank you." Rei cooed.

Hisashi smiled and gave Rei a quick peck on her nose. The two then parted from their embrace and began to walk into the city streets. They held hands and would gently swing their arms back and forth in the air, still having their fingers interlocked with each other. It was a silly thing to do, but something they often did when they walked together.

"By the way, I'm sorry if I'm a few minutes late." Hisashi spoke.

Rei looked at him and smiled. "It's fine. I noticed there's alot of traffic out today so I assumed you wouldn't arrive at the exact minute." She replied.

A bicyclist rode by the young couple, ringing his bell.

Hisashi looked up ahead at the street and noticed 4 more Weyland-Yutani trucks driving by.

"I have a feeling those guys have something to do with it. They're everywhere." He pointed out.

When the convoy drove past the two, Rei glanced behind her shoulder to look at them. The convoy drove over a bridge and turned off onto a highway which would lead them outside of the city.

Rei shrugged her shoulders and looked ahead.

A minute passed until Rei decided to speak up.

"So Hisashi, what's the plan for our date today?" She asked.

Hisashi had an expression of thought. "Well, I heard of this fantastic new place to eat at. It's in the Taiei Mall. Afterwords, I was wanting to take you to this one movie that just came out. And finally, I just want to walk around the park and talk with you. We haven't had an actual conversation in so long." He replied.

Rei nodded. "I know, it's been so long. Most of the time we've only talked about homework and exams." She said.

Rei looked up at the sky. "It sure is a beautiful day, isn't it?" She asked.

Hisashi looked at her. "It's a nice day, but it's not beautiful. You are." He answered.

Rei looked back at Hisashi. "Aww. You're so sweet." She said as she gave Hisashi a kiss on the cheek.

_**3:30PM...**_

Shizuka Marikawa was sitting in the living room couch where her friend Rika Minami lived. Rika was out on the top balcony smoking a cigarette, the view of the city was fantastic. She could see everything. From the Tokonosu skyline to the Offshore International Airport. Rika was mostly interested in the airport as she noticed alot of planes were landing there. Each with the same color and logo on the side.

Multiple ferries would come to and from the airport, carrying semi trucks, construction equipment, and workers. Starting tomorrow, construction would begin on the new Operations Complex for Weyland-Yutani.

Back in the living room, Shizuka was leaning towards the coffee table. She had dozens of papers laid about that she needed to study. Most of it were for exams at the university she was studying, but one that she had yet to open contained information from Weyland-Yutani. The company reached a deal with various schools and universities throughout the world to put synthetics in classes to see how they can interact with other people and learn, in hopes to improve for future models.

It was a notice that there would be a synthetic replacing a medical professor who was to be transferred to the new facility being built. The professor, along with other intelligent people in Tokonosu and throughout Japan were in Tokyo for a corporate briefing on future experiments. If they agreed, it would mean a fantastic pay.

Shizuka closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. There was just so much to learn!

_I should take a break and bug Rika for a bit._ She thought to herself.

Shizuka stood up from the couch she was sitting on and stretched her arms.

"Oh Riiiika!" She cheerly shouted as she began to walk upstairs.

_**8:30PM...**_

Alice Maresato was laying in bed, she looked out her window to see the moon and stars shining down on her. She didn't need a nightlight whenever the moon was out, it was all the light she needed to feel safe. The stars sparkled, they were so hypnotic to look at. Alice had a teddy bear wrapped around her arms that she called Casey. Casey was brown, and very fuzzy.

At times when Alice was too scared to go to sleep, Casey was her protector. No monster would dare touch Alice if Casey was around.

Alice noticed a star shooting across the night sky and her eyes lit up with excitement. She never saw a shooting star before.

"Look Casey! A shooting star!" She pointed out to her teddy bear.

Alice heard from one of her classmates that if she ever saw a shooting star, she would make a wish. Alice didn't need to think for a second about the wish she wanted to make.

She was an only child, she didn't have any brothers or sisters to play with after school. If there was one wish she always wanted, it was to have a sibling.

Alice closed her eyes and mentally said her wish.

_I wish to have a brother or sister._ She thought.

Alice opened her eyes. Her face had so much hope that her wish would one day come true.

Alice took one more long look at the sky. A few minutes passed and her eyelids began to feel heavy. A small yawn escaped from her mouth as she knew it was time to sleep. She looked at her teddy bear one more time. "Good night Casey." She quietly said.

Alice went into a slumber quickly, in her dreams she was on a swingset laughing away with someone she imagined to be a sibling pushing her.

One day her wish will come true, and she will no longer feel alone.

_**Midnight...**_

The streets were empty, no cars driving by.

No people walking around.

Until Saeko Busujima left her home.

Saeko often had a hard time sleeping. Whenever that happened, she would go on a jog until exhaustion would force her to get some sleep. Strapped to her arm was an ipod. She had on Black running shoes, tight purple running shorts that hugged her hips and rear end, and a black top that exposed her belly and lower back.

Saeko had no fears about running around late at night. She knew she could take care of herself. And if any stranger would dare try to touch her, she would show no mercy upon them. Deep inside, she was HOPING for someone to go after her.

She had a sick lust to bring pain to others.

The song she was listening to was 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites' by Skrillex. Music like that seemed to suit her dark side so well.

Saeko's goal for tonight was to jog all the way across the city and back in 90 minutes. She was certainly making pace, being so athletic and all.

Saeko's eyes wandering around as she was jogging. Buildings had lights on in their windows, a wave of light would pass by her everytime she jogged through a street light, billboards would have some sort of advertisement, and sirens would faintly echo around the city.

_**One hour later...**_

Saeko was well across the city when she stopped to take a quick break. Normally, she would slowly breathe in and out for a minute and jog back home. But something past the city where she would normally stop at caught her eye.

There was a wide dirt road with massive tire trails on them, about a quarter mile past it were light posts that were incredibly tall and were bright enough to pass for stadium lights. They were posted in the four sides and corners of the site. Underneath those lights were dozens of men and construction vehicles scattered about.

In the distance she could hear the machinery hard at work, from the engines rumbling, to the beeping of a vehicle backing up.

They seemed to be getting ready to build something. Saeko scanned ahead at the construction site, it seemed that something big will be built there soon. But why so far away?

Saeko looked at her ipod to check the time.

"Shit, I'm behind pace." She said to herself quietly.

Saeko turned around and began to jog back home. A few seconds later, she looked back to see the construction site one last time before she put her complete attention to the streets in front of her.

**WEYLAND-YUTANI REPORT:**

**We have begun construction on a facility just outside of Tokonosu City. We are expecting completion of the site by the beginning of summer. After that, we will be stationing employees at the facility to begin development on future robotics. While expanding and advancing further into our developments for our projects is important, Administrators and Security Chiefs stationed at their own facilities will be briefed for a high priority objective at each facilities Primary Operations Complex throughout the World should The Metriarch be discovered.**

**-End Transmission**

To be continued...


	4. Retrieving The Matriarch

Guys, I'm deeply sorry for posting this so late. I was anticipating the movie "Prometheus" and I felt like I couldn't continue this story unless I saw it first. So please forgive me.

**Chater 4: Retrieving The Matriarch**

_**Somewhere in Antartica...**_

NUCLEAR POWERED VESSEL "PALMER"

CAPTAIN: MARTIN THANERTON

CREW: 50

**WEYLAND-YUTANI MESSAGE TO CAPTAIN MARTIN THANERTON:**

**Hello Captain,**

**If you received this message you are close to the site where your crew must retrieve The Matriarch. She has sunken to the very depths of the ocean floor, and we do not know what sort of condition she is in. However we do know that she has froze and according to our satellite intel, has been entombed in ice. You and your crew have the following objectives:**

**-Retrieve The Matriarch from the ocean floor.**

**-Keep The Matriarch in the container we have supplied to your vessel.**

**-****DO NOT**** damage or attempt to break open the ice.**

**-(PRIORITY STATUS) The Matriarch ****MUST**** be kept frozen and contained until docking.**

**I hope you and your crew live up to our expectations. When we hire the best, we expect the best.**

**The Overseer**

Martin was in his private quarters, reading the message on his laptop. He was a somewhat heavy set man who appeared to be close to 50. His hair was grey, his eyes had a faint tone of silver mixed with blue. Aside from his moustache, he was clean shaven. He had on black overalls that had seen better days, and a grey long sleeve shirt.

He leaned his head back on his chair and closed his eyes. It was just three weeks ago that a representative from Weyland Industries approached him at the harbor where his vessel was docked at in Australia. He remembered how an attractive young woman in her late 20's was waiting for him next to his truck.

Her blonde hair that was shoulder length, and her green eyes that showed confidence in herself. Not to mention her business attire. Black dress pants with a white button up shirt and a black jacket covering over that. He was sure that underneath those clothes she had a nice body.

Martin Chuckled at himself.

_**Three Weeks Ago...**_

It was a warm afternoon at the Australian docks. The sky was orange, the purple clouds stood still. Seagulls could be heard in the distance.

Various boats and vessels were lined up, floating at bay

"Martin Thanerton?" Jessica asked.

Martin looked up from his usual routine of looking for the keys and saw the young business woman leaning against his truck. Perhaps it was his lucky day to meet an insanely beautiful woman ever since the divorce of his wife 13 years go.

"Yes Ma'am." He answered with a tone of interest in this woman.

The woman walked over to Martin and extended her right hand.

"Jessica Parks, I work for Weyland Industries." She replied.

The two shook hands. Judging by her professional demeanor, this wasn't a young woman who was interested in a date.

"I hope you're not in any hurry, I'm here to discuss a possible job for you and your crew." She asked.

Martin shook his head. "No I'm free right now. I just came by to see how my crew was doing with maintenance on my ship." He answered.

Jessica nodded in approval. "Good. Now, you're probably wondering why I'm here." She said.

Martin nodded in response.

"Well Mr. Thanerton, Weyland Industries has heard of your crew's expeditions. And we must say, you and your crew have quite an amazing reputation at recovering sunken material from even the greatest depths underwater." Jessica continued.

Martin laughed. "Well, I traveled around the world when I met my crew and it's amazing what you can do with such an international ragtag team."

Jessica laughed as well, but it was more forceful than amused. She knew time was of the essence.

"Mr. Thanerton, Weyland Industries needs your help. I will be honest, this assignment is potentially dangerous and it is very important that if you do accept, you follow the objectives we send to you."

Jessica sounded more serious now. Martin scoffed at the though of her trying to put fear into him.

"Miss Parks, danger is my crew's middle name. We've traveled great lengths to retrieve sunken ships, ancient artifacts, and lost cargo for many scientists, military organizations, and companies around the World. We can do whatever job you tell us to do." Martin answered with great confidence.

Jessica smiled and handed him a folder she had been holding ever since she was waiting for Martin.

"Fantastic. Take this, the papers inside contain coordinates of the location you must go to. Also there's an instruction manual for the various tools and equipment that your crew must read in order to fully prepare for the assignment. When you're close to the site, we will give you further instructions from there." She said.

Martin took the folder from Jessica and noticed the unique Weyland-Yutani logo on the front. Before she could walk away and vanish, Martin had to ask her something.

"Ms. Parks?" Martin asked.

Jessica stopped to look back. "Yes?" She asked.

"If you say you're working for Weyland Industries, why does this folder say Weyland-Yutani?" Martin asked as he pointed at the cover of the folder.

Jessica walked back to Martin. "Two weeks from now, Weyland Industries and Yutani Corporation will merge. By the time you complete the assignment, I'll be working for the two super powers." She answered.

Jessica checked her watch. "Mr. Thanerton, please excuse me." She said as she walked out of the parking lot.

_**Present Day...**_

Martin got up from his chair to put on his jacket and hat. He knew his crew was waiting for him down at one of the cargo bays. He took one final sip of his coffee mug that was setting on his desk and walked out of his room.

In the main cargo bay, the rest of the crew gathered to wait for their captain. They truly were a diverse group. Different colors, ages, and countries of origin. The two things they all had in common is that they all spoke English, and all of them were men. Some were talking with each other about what exactly they were supposed to be retrieving out fromt the ocean.

A young man, who appeared to be of collage age. Was pacing back and forth with his arms crossed. He was pale skinned, had red hair, blue eyes, and some freckles on his face. He was the latest addition to the crew. He was looking rather impatient.

"Shit man, what's taking him so long?" He muttered.

"He'll be down here soon Jonesy, just wait a bit." An older sounding gentlemen answered behind him.

Jonesy looked over his shoulder to see Tim. He was in his late 30's. Tall, scruffy, and had a strong build to him. "I just hate the cold. I wanna get this frozen hunk of whatever is at the bottom of the ocean and get back home as soon as possible." Jonesy rubbed his arms. Even with the multiple layers of clothing on, he was still freezing.

Tim patted him on the shoulder. "Already being a wimp? This is your first expedition with us, isn't it?" He asked.

Jonesy nodded.

The entire crew stopped with their gossip when they heard a metal door creek open behind them. Martin slowly walked inside the cargo bay. As he approched his crew, he couldn't help but glance at the large container positioned in the middle of the cargo bay. It was gigantic, big enough to fit an entire helicopter.

Martin looked back at his crew, all of them with their eyes set on him. He thought for a few seconds before he would start explaining the assignment to them.

"Good morning everyone." He said loudly for them to hear.

"Good morning captain." The crew replied back.

Martin had his hands behind his back. "I'm sure it's been a long three weeks for us, but we're finally here. And you all are probably wondering why we're here."

He looked at his crew, he could see some of them nod.

"Well, as usual, we're here to do what we do best. And that is to get something called The Matriarch out from the bottom of the ocean and send it to Weyland-Yutani." He said.

Martin saw Jonesy's hand rise up.

"Question?" He asked.

Jonesy nodded. "Yeah uhhh, what is this Matriarch?"

Martin looked down for a second, then back up at Jonesy.

He shook his head. "I don't know." He answered

He could tell the crew looked very confused, never before have they not knew what exactly it was they were trying to get out of the ocean.

Martin wanted to continue. "We may not know what it is exactly we're getting down there, but I can tell you that we are directly above it, and that it has frozen in think ice."

He stepped back to point at the large container. "The company supplied us this container to store it on our way back to Australia. We were given specific instructions to make sure the Matriarch remains frozen, so that explains why this room is so damn cold."

"Okay everyone, we all know the drill. On the port and starboard of the Palmer are the two submarines we'll be using, it only takes one person to pilot them, but there needs to be a gunner to launch the spear hooks. After both submarines connect with the ice, they will return to the surface where our crane will lift it from the water and inside the container through the hatch."

Martin pointed up. The crew was standing underneath not a ceiling, but a hatch that opened upwards on either side.

"Under no circumstances will we try to figure out what's inside, the Matriarch will remain inside no matter what, is that understand?" He asked sternly.

"Yes Sir!" The crew shouted in response.

Martin nodded slowly, he sure was proud of these men. "Great. No everyone, head to your stations!" Martin turned around to leave the Cargo Bay, he will be stationed at the bridge to monitor the activity from there.

The crew scattered about to head to where they were assigned for. Tim and Jonesy were heading to the Port side submarine. Tim would be piloting it, while Jonesy was responsible for shooting the spear from a side cannon.

"Ready for this, kid?" Tim asked.

Jonesy was running alongside him. "I've been ready ever since we found out we'd be making big bucks!"

After a few minutes of running through the corridors, they finally made it to the outside deck. The air was incredibly cold, the sky was grey, no clouds or sun to be seen. Out in the distance was a large iceberg.

The submarine was about the size of a motorhome, underneath it was a cannon that would shoot the spear hook into the Matriarch. It could be operated through a joystick, as if one was playing a video game.

Tim climbed up first, he opened the hatch that would take him inside the cockpit. It was a small fit, so it would mean crawling through to get there. Jonesy would soon follow, but he would climb to the bottom to control the cannon.

As he closed the hatch, he sighed. This was going to be intense.

The cockpit had no windows, so Tim could only see through through monitors. In front of him were two joysticks that he would use to pilot the submarine.

Jonesy was in an even more cramped part of the submarine, it felt like he was in a bubble. Just like the cockpit, there were no windows. A camera was placed on top of the cannon to help him aim through a monitor of his own. Both men put on headsets so they could talk to each other, the captain, and the other submarine that would assist them on their descent.

"Jonesy, can you hear me?" Tim asked through the mouthpiece.

"Yeah I do." Jonesy answered.

"Ron, are you and Clint ready?" Tim wanted to see if the other two men on the starboard submarine were ready as well.

"You bet, let's do this!" Replied a rather enthusiastic Ron.

Tim flexed his hands before he grabbed the joysticks.

"Captain, we're ready on your command."

On the bridge, Martin was looking through monitors to check the statuses of both submarines, everything appeared to be fine. In different sides of the bridge, some crew members were sitting in their own stations, also monitoring any minor differences that could affect the mission.

"You may begin your descent now." He ordered through a microphone.

Tim flipped a few switches above him. On both sides of the Palmer, the cables connecting the submarines began to lower them into the water. It felt longer than it usually does everytime someone went under. There was so much anticipation.

The submarines finally touched the water surface, another flip of a switch caused the cables to disconnect from the submarines as they could finally go underwater.

"How you doing over there Ron?" Tim asked.

"Fine, just fine." Ron answered. Although Tim couldn't see it, Ron was smiling. Everyone knew there was a fortune to get this thing out from the bottom.

The two submarines began to dive, rather slowly. The noises that could be heard was the humming of the engine and the sonar slowing pinging every second. No real activity could be detected.

Jonesy moved his joystick around, playing with the cannon. He made noises that sounded like gunfire. He wasn't bored, it more like something to pass the time.

Tim never blinked as he paid attention to the monitor. He noticed as the deeper he was getting, the darker the water was becoming. "Ron, let's turn on the lights." He said.

"Got it." At the same time, both Ron and Tim turned on the front lights outside their Submarines. The beams were bright enough to create two large tunnels of light through the darkness.

Back on the bridge, Martin paid close attention through monitors of his own. They showed him live footage of the dark ocean, telementary of how the submarines were doing, even life support of the four men. They were getting close to the bottom. It was time to speak to both pilots. He lifted his microphone up to his mouth, ready to speak.

"Ron, Tim. You'll be approaching the ocean floor soon. Switch video feed to the bottom."

"Yes sir." They both replied.

With a push of a button, their monitors showed what was happening beneath them instead of up front. It was still pitch black, but the lights shifted downwards. Both Ron and Tim could start to make something out.

It was huge!

Tim had to know if Martin was seeing this.

"Captain, is that what we're looking for?" He asked, rather stunned.

Martin too looked stunned. It looked like a sunken ice tomb. But the ice was black, it would be impossble to tell what exactly was inside it. Martin checked the coordinates through a smaller screen, they were correct. That had to have been the mysterious Matriarch!

"That has to be it. Spread further apart! Gunners, get ready to fire." Martin ordered.

Ron and Tim shifted their joysticks to give each other space away from each other and give their gunners more room to aim. Tim's heart was racing! Hell, everyone witnessing this back on the ship had huge anticipation now!

"Ok, Jonesy?" Tim said.

Jonesy pressed his mouthpiece up. "Yeah?" He asked.

"Just treat it like a video game, you'll do well." Tim had faith in this rookie. He wouldn't miss.

Jonesy didn't reply, he had this. He moved his joystick to point the cannon slightly down. He had perfect aim, only a drunken idiot would miss. "Clint, on the count of three, we fire, right?" Jonesy asked.

"Right!" Clint shouted, Jonesy suspected he was excited.

"1"

No need to adjust their aim.

"2"

The two were squeezing their triggers.

"3!"

The two cannons shot out large spears, they whizzed through the water at such amazing speed. Trailing behind the spears were cables that the submarines would use to lift the Matriarch up. Several seconds later, they connected on either side.

SUCCESS!

The captain could hear some of his crewman clapping behind him, but it wasn't over yet. So far, everything was going as planned. Now, it was time for someone to open up the cargo bay's upper hatch and power up the crane that would remove the Matriarch from the water when it reached the surface.

"How are things going down there? You guys hooked up?" He asked, with great concern.

Tim chuckled. "Yes sir we are! Awaiting orders."

Martin nodded. "See you in several minutes."

Tim had a grin like no other, it was rare for him to express this sort of happiness. Ron was singing 'We're in the money' through his headset for everyone to hear. It was fortune from here on out! Tim had to end his singing however.

"Ron, I hate to stop the entertainment but focus! We need to keep pace so the cables don't break."

Ron just sung more quietly. He's done this many times that it was second nature to him. Jonesy however, just started out at the black ice tomb through his monitor. He didn't feel threatened by it, it just looked beautiful. But why did Weyland-Yutani want this thing?

Minutes had passed until both submarines and the Matriarch rose from the surface. They were on the bow side of the Palmer. The Captain and a handful of his crew stationed up there looked at the black ice tomb with awe. The rest of the crew were standing outside on the bow, leaning over the rail to see for themselves what they picked up. It was strange, yet beautiful. A crane started to power up and a large mechnanical claw moved out to grab this large and mysterious Matriarch.

The claw lowered down and spread open, the crane's operator noticed the claw was close enough to grab onto the Matriarch and let the claw attach itself onto the ice tomb. Both gunners fliped a switch, allowing the submarines to detach themselves from the ice tomb. The claw lifted the Matriarch from the ocean surface, tons of water pouring out from its grip. The crane operator spun the claw around slowly, the opening to the cargo bay exposed the container that was also open.

Slowly but surely, the Matriarch made it inside not just the cargo bay, but the container itself.

Mission Accomplished.

The entire crew was cheering. Hugs were exchanged, handshakes all around, some lit up cigars to celebrate. The Matriarch was sealed through the top of the container, the famous W-Y logo imprinted shining through the articifial light.

_**3 hours later...**_

The Palmer was heading back home.

In the Cargo Bay, the crew threw themselves a party. Traveling to one of the coldest places on Earth was well worth the handsome paycheck all of them would receive. The beer was flowing, the singing was echoing, oh what a hangover everyone would get the next day.

Martin was once again in his private quarters, on his laptop. He shared the recorded footage to Jessica through webcam in her office in Japan. She was pleased with the result and decided to write Martin a message.

**Martin,**

**We at Weyland-Yutani are incredibly proud of your finest assignment to date. Rest assured you and your crew will be greatly rewarded for your effort when you dock.**

**Jessica Parks.**

Martin smiled. Sure he didn't score with her, but being a millionaire was a great alternative. He decided to power down his laptop and head into the Cargo Bay to celebrate with his crew.

However, one member wasn't joining the celebration with the others.

Jonesy was outside, it was a dark night filled with sparkling stars. It was still chilly, but it wasn't as desolate as it a few hours ago. It would be a long trip back to civilization, but he might as well enjoy the view.

Then he remembered something. He had to make a phone call. It was at this exact time he was supposed to make this call.

He reached for his cell phone and began to dial a number.

"It's me...We got it. I did my part now do I get my paycheck when we dock?...Great...We should be back in 3 weeks tops...I'll be looking forward to my check. Bye."

With the press of a button, he hung up. Jonesy looked back up at the stars.

At the Earth's atmosphere, a communications satellite was orbiting and managed to make brief contact with Jonesy. He had to wait for a certain time for it to position properly in order to make his call.

To a representative from a rival company.

Weyland-Yutani wasn't the only ones who found the mysterious ice tomb. Whatever it was Weyland-Yutani was in on, the other companies want in on it too. Even if that meant stealing.

**TO: Dr. Lance Eisenberg**

**FROM: Jessica Parks**

**Doctor,**

**The Matriarch has been retrieved. I'm sending you footage to confirm the successful operation. We should be expecting it to dock in Australia in three weeks. I do not know what is so important of this Matriarch, but the footage I've seen is more unsettling rather intriguing. But if Weyland-Yutani trusts you with being The Overseer of this research, then so will I.**

**Jessica Parks**

_**To be continued...**_

Well folks! There you go! Chapter 4 is in the books! Wonder what Takashi and the others are doing? Find out next chapter!


	5. Bringing them together

Well, here it is. The fifth chapter, we're getting close to when things are starting to go downhill. Also, you're going to be introduced to not one, but TWO original characters. Keep on reading to learn more about them and why I decided on these two characters.

Also, I want to give a shout-out to Yamucha-San. Definitely check out his two HOTD stories. He's a pretty chill dude.

Chapter 5: Bringing them together

_**Tokonosu City...**_

_**5:30AM...**_

Takashi was laying in bed, he had his arms crossed behind his head as he looked out his window that was next to him. Outside the window he had a great view of the city, but it was the sun rising above the ocean a great distance away was what caught his attention the most. The sky that surrounded the sun was a gorgeous mix of yellow and orange, there wasn't even a cloud in the sky.

Even though the inside of Takashi's room was fairly cool, he could tell that today was going to be nice and warm. Too bad the holiday week was over two weeks ago. Normally Takashi hated waking up so early, but that big golden sun was always so welcoming.

The rays of light from the sun were beginning to rise up in his room. Takashi looked down to see the light move up from his bed covers, to the floor, and finally the walls, lighting up everything in his room.

Takashi arched his back to stretch. Even though he still had about two hours until school would start, he decided to get up and get ready. Today was a joint field trip between Fujimi High and a Western high school. The Weyland-Yutani facility built at the edge of the city was nearing completion and in hopes to encourage future generations of students to become interested in working for them, they decided to set up a tour around the completed parts of the facility. Takashi really had no interest in working for a company, but it beats sitting in an entire classroom all day doing nothing but listen to his teacher talk constantly about something he really didn't give a shit about.

He pulled away the covers and sat on the edge of his bed, brushing his messy hair away from his eyes. Takashi was only just wearing boxer shorts. He wiggled his toes between the soft carpet that was starting to get warm from the sun.

It took Takashi a minute before he finally felt more awake. He walked to his closet to get out that lame uniform and went to his drawer and opened the top shelf to get a pair of underwear and socks next. Soon afterwords he would go to the bathroom to take a shower.

As he entered the bathroom, he hung his uniform on the door handle and slid out from his boxers. With a turn of the knob, the shower head sprayed out that warm, soothing water that would wash away the sleepiness

_**Off the coast of Australia...**_

The Palmer was a half hour away from docking. The crewmates were in their own quarters packing up their belongings. Quarters were usually shared by two people, Jonesy and Tim were just one of the dozens of pairs that lived in the same room during their journey to the Antarctic.

On both sides, the two were setting their clothes and other personal belongs inside their luggage sacks. A couple of minutes later, Tim decided to break the silence.

"So Jonesy." He said.

Jonesy looked back while continuing his packing. "Yeah?"

"What do you plan on doing with your pay?" Tim asked.

Jonesy thought for a second, he wasn't getting pay from just Weyland-Yutani, but from rival company Cyberdyne Systems. They decided to do some corporate espionage and Jonesy was one of three mules used for this operation. He didn't know who the other two mules were or what their part was, and he didn't really care. As long as he got his money for this.

The night when the entire crew began to pass out from being drunk, Jonesy snuck into the Cargo Bay to insert a small beacon underneath the container's lock for Cyberdyne to track. He did it with ease since everyone was passed out or too drunk to even notice.

"I think after being in deep freezing cold weather, I'm gonna take a vacation to someplace warm." Jonesy replied.

Tim laughed.

After about fifteen minutes of silence and packing, both men were finally finished. Tim turned around and extended his hand out.

"Jonesy, I know we haven't known each other for very long, but it was nice meeting you."

Jonesy took his hand and shook it.

"Yeah nice meeting you too." He said.

Martin's voice echoed throughout the ship through the intercoms not too long afterwords.

"Attention everyone! We will be docking in five minutes. Except for myself and our Crane operator, please head to the top deck. It was a pleasure to work with you all, and I hope to see you guys again in the future. But for now, enjoy your pay."

Tim slung his luggage sack over his shoulder. "Well let's go." He said.

Nearly the entire crew were waiting outside the deck as the Palmer was slowly entering into a port. The weather was a welcoming change. Sunny, warm, a slight breeze however. The sea port had multiple rows of containers lined up, with some warehouses behind them. There was some slight rust from some of the structures, but all the buildings and equipment were still fully functional.

Between two rows of containers, there was a large driveway. Sitting at the edge of the port was a semi truck that was carrying an unusually large trailer. On both sides of that trailer was that recognizable company logo. Parked next to the truck were six black SUVs. About a couple dozen employees were waiting to retrieve the precious cargo. They were dressed in either jumpsuits with hard hats, business suits, or uniformed security with heavily armed assault rifles.

Just why the hell would THOSE guys be needed for?

After a few minutes of waiting, the Palmer finally docked alongside the port. The crew was anxious to get off, knowing when they each went home, a paycheck was waiting for them in the mail.

In a single file line, the crew followed one another down the walkway that was positioned for them earlier for their arrival. Almost all of them looked up to see the Palmer's crane lift the container out from the cargo bay and into the trailer the semi would be carrying. Several hard hat workers went inside the trailer to inspect the container to make sure there was no damage and The Matriarch was still intact inside.

She was.

Jonesy saw enough. As soon as his feet touched portside, he made a quick dash to the parking lot. Passing rows and rows of containers stacked on both sides. He had to meet up with his contact soon which would be a short drive away from the docks.

Jonesy tossed his luggage onto the back of his truck and fiddled with his keys to find the one that would unlock the door. As he went inside, he took a few deep breaths to recover from his running. After settling down, he started up his truck and drove out of the docks to meet up with his contact.

It was a 20 minute drive for Jonesy to get out of the Industrial part of the city. He would be meeting his contact at a cafe surprisingly.

The Industrial district wasn't as colorful as the other parts of the city were. Factories, ports, warehouses, and mills. There was nothing but buildings of brown, grey, red, and white. Smoke covered the entire district. There were patches of blue sky, but you would have to be quite a distance to truly see the skies.

Block after block, Jonesy could notice the transition from industrial to a more civilized district. The pedestrians were now normal clothed people instead of dirty orange vested workers. Vehicles were now four door sedans, vans, convertibles, and taxis. Streets had stores, small businesses, and restaurants lined up next to one another. Looking ahead, he could see the gigantic skyscrapers built at the very center of the city that towered all the surrounding districts.

There it was, the cafe where he would meet his contact. Jonesy parked into the side of the street and got out of his truck. He could see his contact sitting inside a booth. He didn't know his name, but he knew who he was going to expect to meet through previous conversations with him through webcam and phone calls.

The Contact was a brunette man with green eyes with glasses. He had on a blue suit with a matching tie. He appeared to be in his thirties, which meant he was sent by the higher ups. His facial expressions looked serious, he meant business.

Jonesy took a deep breath and walked into the cafe. He was still surprised they would be meeting here instead of some shady back alley or dark parking lot. Once Jonesy was inside, he turned to his right to see the contact with his hands resting on the table, the contact's eyes were fixed on him.

Jonesy passed through other booths that other patrons had occupied. Some were alone, others were couples having coffee and pie, a few were business men getting a quick bite. Jonesy then sat across from the contact.

"It's done." Jonesy said.

The Contact nodded. "Yes, we know. You did good."

The Contact pulled out a thick envelope which held a large portion of money inside and handed it to Jonesy. Jonesy took the envelope and counted the money, it was more than enough to keep him satisfied.

"Can I ask you something?" Jonesy looked up.

The Contact looked at him, waiting for a response.

"Just what is The Matriarch exactly?"

The Contact held up his hand. "You don't need to worry about that, you did your part and that's all that matters. Go home, and enjoy your pay." The contact got up from his seat and left the cafe. Jonesy looked down at the table. What was so important about The Matriarch that Cyberdyne wanted so badly?

Probably just some corporate competition.

A Waitress walked up to Jonesy. "Can I get you something, Darling?" She asked.

Jonesy looked up to her. "Uhhh, Ice Tea would be good."

The Contact was walking along the street, parked at the corner was his black BMW 528i waiting. As soon as he got inside, he got out his cell phone and dialed a number.

"It's me...The first mule did his part, you're up now...We'll be sending you a resume to give to the company in a few hours, apply to the facility we will assign you...Goodbye."

The contact put away his cell phone and drove off.

_**Tokonosu City...**_

_**6:45AM...**_

Takashi left his home and was on his way to school. Slung around his shoulder was his backpack. He felt much more awake now, but was hungry. Reaching for his back pocket, Takashi pulled out his wallet to see how much money he had on him. It was enough to get him by for the week. Takashi wasn't the spendy type, unless some hot new video game came out or he and his small group of friends wanted to watch a movie, he had enough to buy a moped right now if he wanted to.

Since it was still morning, his neighborhood was still quiet and somewhat desolate. Aside from the old lady sweeping her front porch or the middle aged man frantically putting on his tie as he was getting ready to drive off to work, it was kind of pleasant. At a distance Takashi could hear a few chirps as some birds flew past him. Branches from trees were waving slowly from the calm breeze that would come once in a while. Yep, today felt like a good day.

As he walked past a street, he glanced over to his right. He didn't live too far from Rei and he could see her house from where he was at. Not surprisingly, she wasn't there. Either she was still getting ready, or she woke up early to meet up with Hisashi for some breakfast someplace before school.

Rei had told Takashi many times in the past that he was always welcome to drop by at her house and wait for Hisashi to meet up with them so the three could walk to school together. But he never took up on that offer. Even though they were still friends, there would always be a slight pain in his stomach seeing them together. He would be quiet and his eyes would wander off somewhere else whenever the three were together or with the same group of friends, not because he was bored, but because it hurt him to see that she was with Hisashi.

He never held any resentment against Hisashi. It was Takashi's fault and his alone.

The growl coming from inside his stomach reminded him that he was still hungry. Thankfully, that distracted him from his thoughts towards Rei. Takashi decided to walk faster to the nearest store to get a quick snack before heading to school.

_**7:30AM...**_

_**Fujimi High School...**_

Finishing up his breakfast on the go, Takashi finally made it to the front gates of his school. Parked just outside the gates were multiple buses lined up. The plan was for students to head to their classes for teachers to count who was in attendance. Afterwords, they would be put in groups and head to the bus they were assigned in with their teacher or other adults that volunteered to chaperone the students. When they reached the facility, the groups would then be joined up with the Western high school students who were put in groups as well. Both school administrators felt it would be good for the two different groups of students to interact with each other.

Students were arriving either in small groups with friends, as couples, on bikes, or by themselves. Takashi looked around to see if there was anyone he would recognize, he only saw either students he shared a class with but never spoke to, popular students with respected backgrounds due to academics or sporting events, students he heard about through gossip, or just complete strangers. That last one being quite alot of strangers.

Fujimi was a quite large and prestious school. The buildings were four stories high, each built in the North, East, South, and West sections that were all connected through walkways. In the very center was the largest building of them all. The center building housed a gym, theater, swimming pool, dojo, and basketball court. Next to that building on the West was a soccer field, to the East was a baseball field.

Takashi had a half hour until school would officially start, he decided to set his packpack in his classroom and head up to the rooftop of the school's observatory in hopes a couple of his friends were there.

Walking up the stairway, Takashi could see a young couple making out on one level, and a couple punks smoking cigarettes the next. When he finally reached the roof, he was glad to see two familiar faces, Morita and Imamura. Morita was leaning over the rails, checking out girls that were socializing with one another in their own groups down at the courtyard. Imamura was leaning with his back against the rail, smoking a Lucky Strike.

"You know smoking those will kill you one day." Takashi said as he waved away the smoke with his hand.

Both Morita and Imamura turned their attention to Takashi as he walked towards them.

"Well I guess I'm fucked then, huh?." Imamura said carelessly as he flicked the ash off his cigarette.

Morita walked up to ruffle Takashi's hair. Slightly annoyed but amused, Takashi re-adjusted his hair with his hands. "What's up Komuro? Stoked for today's field trip?" Morita asked.

Takashi shrugged. "Not really, but it's better than sitting in class all day."

The three leaned over the rail to get a good look of everyone scattered throughout the courtyard. Morita especially, you never know who he might add next in his book of girls that will end up as groupies for his band.

"Dude, I gotta add her to my book." Morita pointed down at some random girl. Takashi glanced at the girl for a second, nobody important.

Takashi looked at the gate entrance and there they were, Rei and Hisashi holding hands together. He sighed for a bit before letting his eyes wander up to look at the city skyline.

"Think the three of us will be in the same group for the trip?" Takashi asked.

Imamura dropped the cigarette butt on the ground and crushed it with his foot. "I'm skipping the trip. I'm probably just gonna hit up the arcade for the rest of the day. The only reason why I'm here is because my parents dropped me off and when school starts, I'm climbing the fence and getting the hell outta here."

Takashi looked at Morita, waiting for his answer. "I hope you and me are in the same group, but it would be so cool if our group had a ton of hot chicks! Hell, I wouldn't mind some Western hotties. So I got my fingers crossed!" Morita sure sounded very excited. Takashi guessed he was going to take this field trip as a chance to hook up with someone...And fail miserably in the process.

Pulling up to the front gate was a pearl white Rolls-Royce Phantom, Saya was arriving. The chauffeur exited from the driver's seat and opened the back passenger door, offering his hand out to assist Saya, she accepted it as she stepped out.

Morita pointed the car out. "Dude, if I had a Rolls-Royce I'd be getting laid by every girl in this school!" Takashi thought it would be best if he didn't tell Morita that he and Saya were friends since they were little, and that he got rides in that Rolls-Royce a few times in the past.

"I may not have a ton of money or a nice car, but one day Takagi won't keep her hands off me after my band makes it big!" Morita shouted with his fist in the air.

Takashi shook his head and chuckled. "Well, good luck with that."

Looking down, Takashi saw a fairly large group of students that stood out to him interacting with one another. They were the boys and girls kendo team. Alot of them were very popular due to their reputation of winning tournaments and holding that winning streak for quite some time. Also, alot of the students in the school had huge crushes on both the boys and the girls on the team.

Alot of them were single, but a few of the teammates were dating other students, which made alot of people jealous. The other teammates who were single either had certain standards on who they wanted to be with, had no interest in dating anyone, or appeared to be hard to even talk to.

Like Saeko Busujima. Takashi could see her among the others in the group. She was in a smaller group with four other girls, they seemed to be having a conversation. Saeko and her three friends stood there listening to the fourth girl talk about something that must have been funny, because when the girl finished talking, Saeko and the other three girls laughed in response.

Takashi never knew Saeko, but like alot of guys, he thought she was incredibly gorgeous. He assumed she was single, because he never saw her with any guy, not even from the boys kendo team. Thinking about it more, he recalled a few times where guys in the past tried to walk up to her and ask her out, but always backed out and complement her skills instead. It was kind of puzzling, she seemed so polite and kind. But since she's the captain of the kendo team, he could understand somewhat that she would be hard to approach.

Takashi knew he had no chance in hell with her. She was a third year student and Takashi didn't participate in any sports, let alone Kendo. If anything, Saeko was just eye candy.

Imamura pointed at something happening near the gate. "Hey, look over there."

Both Takashi and Morita saw an overweight student kneeling down. He looked like he was picking up papers and books. Behind him, a group of guys were laughing at him. "Isn't he in your class Komuro?" Morita asked.

Takashi nodded. That was Kohta Hirano. Kohta was kind of a loner in school, he didn't seem to have any friends. What the three didn't see was earlier, when Kohta entered through the gates he was tripped by one of the guys standing next to the entrance with his friends. As soon as Kohta was about to stand up, that same guy who tripped him earlier put his foot on Kohta's back and pushed him down. The group of punks decided to leave after that, leaving Kohta to once again pick up his papers and books. Kohta then ran off into one of the buildings nearby with his head hung low.

"That's so fucked up." Takashi muttered.

The bell rang, class was starting in five minutes.

The three friends began to walk down the stairway, as soon as they reached the courtyard, they were about to split up.

"Well guys, if you want to come with me into town, now's your chance." Imamura was pointing at the gate that was slowly closing.

Both Morita and Takashi shook their heads.

"Alright whatever, you guys enjoy being bored outta your minds then." Imamura then turned around to make a dash through the gates that closed behind him soon after.

Morita and Takashi turned to each other to bump fists.

"Alright Komuro, let's hope we're in the same group." Morita said.

Takashi nodded. "Yeah same here, Later."

The two then went their seperate ways to their classrooms.

_**8:03AM...**_

No matter how fast he tried to be, Takashi somehow always ended up late to class. In the past, he tried to find shortcuts in order to make it on time, but it never worked. As he finally made it to the front door of his classrom, Takashi took a deep breath and went inside.

"Yes Mr. Tezuka, I know I'm late and I'm very sor-" Takashi stopped mid sentence when he realized his regular teacher wasn't there. Instead, it was the school nurse, Shizuka Marikawa.

Takashi had a blank look on his face when he noticed her, he then turned his head towards his classmates who were staring back at him. He noticed Saya in the back row shaking her head in annoyance at his late arrival.

"Oh that's fine, I just came here a minute before you did to fill in your teacher's chaperone duties!" She replied with a rather chipper tone.

Takashi nodded and walked over to his desk. He was assigned in the very center of the classroom, which sometimes made him feel uncomfortable because whenever he was asked to answer a question, it felt like the whole world was looking at him instead of his class.

A couple of rows ahead of him slightly to his right, he could see Kohta looking a little timid. On the back of his gakuran jacket, Takashi could barely make out a shoe print where one of those punks from earlier kicked him at.

Shizuka then clapped her hands to get the class's attention.

"Now as everyone here knows, your teacher isn't here. Mr. Tezuka had fallen ill and I agreed to be a chaperone for the field trip at the last minute. I'm actually quite excited and I hope everyone is too!" She excitedly explained.

Shizuka turned around to pick up a clipboard that had a list attached of all the students for her to check off if they attended class.

"Ok now everyone, I'm going to do roll call and please tell me if you're here when I say your name." Shizuka twirled the pen playfully as she began reading out names, checking everyone off who was present.

It only took a minute to do roll call, everyone was in class and waiting for Shizuka's further instructions. With the very same clipboard, she flipped over a couple of papers to find the one that would give her a list of instructions. She didn't seem fully prepared as she quietly whispered to herself, asking where the paper she was looking for was. Several seconds later, she found the paper she was looking for.

"Ah! Here it is! Ok now everyone, normally on field trips you would be going together as a class, right? Well at the request of the administrators, they want mix you up with different students in different classes to encourage everyone to socialize with people you normally wouldn't talk to. Personally, I think it's wonderful and I hope by the end of the day, everyone will have made a new friend!" Shizuka said.

"Now, I'm going to read out your name and you will then go out to the courtyard and join the other students in the group you've been assigned to. Some of you will be with me, so when I'm finished we can walk to the courtyard together and meet the other students? Okay everyone?" Shizuka asked.

Name after name, a student would leave the classroom to meet up with their assigned group at the courtyard. In order to find their group, they had to keep an eye out for the chaperone that would be with them during the trip.

In the end, the only ones in the classroom that would be in Shizuka's group would be Takashi, Rei, Hisashi, Saya, and Kohta. Four people he knew, and one he didn't know at all. Luck or simple coincidence, Takashi was relieved that his group wouldn't be ALL strangers. Hopefully Morita was in his group too.

"Okay are you guys ready?" Shizuka asked.

The remaining classmates answered with a simple yes, and with that they left the classroom to head to the courtyard.

Shizuka was humming as she escorted the group. Hisashi and Rei were holding hands while Takashi was looking down at his feet, trying to ignore them. Saya marched up next to him with her arms crossed.

"Why are you always late to class?" She asked.

Takashi shrugged. "I don't know, I try not to be, I just never seem to make it on time."

Saya pulled on his ear. "Next time, I'm taking you to school on a leash."

Saya looked behind her to see Kohta fidgeting as he was walking. "God, he's so weird sometimes." She whispered.

Takashi looked at Saya. "Who?" he asked.

Saya motioned at Kohta with her head.

"He's quiet, but I don't think he's weird. He doesn't deserve the shit he gets from other people." Takashi whispered back.

Kohta could actually hear their conversation dispite them whispering. He was hurt that Saya was judgemental towards him, but glad a stranger was willing to defend him.

When the small group made it to the courtyard, they saw hundreds of students already lined up in their assigned groups with their chaperones. Dozens of students were still exiting the buildings walking around until they found the group they were looking for.

Shizuka scanned around until she found an opening space for her group to line up. Turning around she motioned her group with a wave. "Okay everyone, follow me!" She said.

Various chatter from the students could be heard as the small group made their way through. After making it to the open spot, more students started to join up.

Takashi and Saya would glance once in a while to see who else was going to be joining them. Most of the time, Saya would mutter a negative remark to Takashi about how this student was so annoying, or that student was too dumb, and so forth. However there were a few students that she had some TINY bit of respect for, but it wasn't enough for her to engage in coversation with them unless she had to.

The group Takashi was in seemed to have the coolest, hottest, and laidback students in school

The group was almost nearing 40, the last student to join was Saeko.

Saeko calmly walked up to the group and politely greeted Shizuka with a bow, she smiled at some of the students in the group that waved to her when she joined them. The other students in the group were of no significance to Takashi. All they were to him were just a bunch of boys and girls.

"Yo Komuro!"

Takashi turned around to see Morita waving at him at the line next to him.

"Sucks we won't be in the same group! Wow, I'm jealous! Your group has most of the hottest girls in school." Morita had his mouth open at the sight of so many attractive girls. All the girls he was stuck with were moderately cute, extremely talkative to the point they were annoying, or overweight. As for the guys, they were some of the nerdiest guys in school. Morita was unfortunate to be in the group of losers and geeks.

"I guess it's my lucky day." Takashi joked.

Morita groaned in frustation. "Your group has some pretty cool guys too. So, I'm like really jealous now."

"Sucks for you!" Takashi remarked.

Morita jokingly gave Takashi the finger.

"Hey I'll try to meet up with you during the tour if I can." Morita said.

Takashi nodded. "Alright."

Rei shivered at the sight a few rows over. It was Mr. Shido. Hisashi was getting a little concerned and rubbed her back.

"You okay?" He asked.

Rei looked back at Hisashi and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine."

The buses were starting up. It was time to get the field trip started.

"Okay everyone, let's get in!" Shizuka said as she motioned the group to go inside the bus. She stood to the side of the bus and waited until everyone in her group was inside before finally getting in herself.

The other groups began to enter the other buses in a single file. It was quick and swift.

Takashi and Saya decided to sit together at the very back. Rei and Hisashi sat somewhere in the middle row of seats. Saeko was just a couple rows away as she sat next to a girl and a guy. They seemed to be acquainted from Takashi's point of view. Kohta and Shizuka shared a seat together in the front row of the bus. Kohta blushed at the thought of a beautiful woman sitting next to him. He turned to look at Shizuka who smiled back at him sweetly.

He nearly fainted.

The buses were already filled with students and one by one, they drove out of the school parking lot and into the city streets.

"So, why are we going to this place again?"

"How many cute boys from that Western high school do you think will be there?"

"Boys? What about the chicks?"

"Hey Busujima! Guess what? You're awesome!"

"Oh? Why thank you."

"I knew I should've ate breakfast."

"Are Miyamoto and Igou making out over there?"

"No we're not!"

"Oh great, is that bitch Tagaki in this group too?"

"I heard that!"

"Damn, she is."

"The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round! Come sing with me Hirano, we can entertain ourselves on the way!"

"Duhhhhhh okay!"

"Who threw this paper plane at me!"

The bus was filled with various conversations from the students. Takashi looked out the window to see the passing streets that were filled with cars and people go by. He let out a sigh and leaned his head against the window and was about to take a nap when he felt someone poking his arm.

Quickly snapping out of his daze, he turned to face Saya who was staring at him closely.

"Why aren't you talking?" She asked.

"I don't know what to talk about." Takashi replied before looking out the window once again.

Saya noticed something about Takashi's behavior for the past few weeks. He seemed so quiet and depressed.

"You know what you need Komuro?" She asked.

Takashi turned back to face her.

"New friends, you look like such a fucking loser when you're by yourself. It's pathetic." She said.

Takashi turned back to face the window, leaving Saya to pout and cross her arms as she stared at the ceiling of the bus.

What Saya said to him wouldn't go away now. Normally he would tune out when she was ranting about something. But this time it stuck to his mind. Rei and Hisashi made him feel awkward, Morita was more interested in talking about girls, Imamura he wouldn't really consider a friend, and Saya was unpredictable when it came to the two of them hanging out.

But going into deeper thought, Takashi never really had a friend to talk to when something was on his mind, or chill out somewhere, or cut loose to just get away from it all.

Maybe Saya and Shizuka were right. Maybe it was time to meet new people and make new friends.

_**9:25AM...**_

Halfway into the drive, the Fujimi buses merged with the Western High School buses, creating a longer convoy into the city streets.

Finally getting to the other side of the city, the convoy of buses made their way through a long road that had fresh pavement. On both sides of the road were lamp posts positioned very perfectly on either side. Just ahead was the nearly completed facility.

A little bit away were a few buildings that were currently under construction, and they were sealed off from tall fences and signs. But the buildings that were already finished or close to it looked modern, powerful, and large.

The center building appeared to be the size of a stadium. It was a little overwhelming of how fast this place was built, but this was Weyland-Yutani. They have the power and resources to build facilities with such speed.

At the front of the building was a large fountain with the giant WY logo rotating slowly, lightly spraying water on both ends.

Waiting outside of the building were dozens of tour guides. The plan was each group would be going in different orders to avoid having areas become crowded. At noon students and chaperones would be eating lunch at the corporate cafeteria. The field trip would end at three in the afternoon.

The bus convoy finally made it to the front building and came to a stop. Everything was smooth and on schedule.

"Okay everyone, time to get off now!" Shizuka stood up and allowed the students to get off first. Kohta decided to be a gentleman and wait alongside her before he would get off. Takashi sighed and pulled himself off from his seat. He looked up to see Shizuka smiling at him. Takashi smiled back, it was mostly a half assed smile, but he wanted to be polite.

The rest of his group were standing together on the sidewalk, socializing. Takashi noticed that Hisashi and Rei were doing that hand holding swing that annoyed him for some unkown reason. Saeko was smiling and listening politely to a couple 3rd year male students who were pratically sucking up to her when they were complmenting her kendo talents. Once in a while, if a guy had the courage, they would approach Saeko and try to flatter her.

Looking both sides, he could see the dozens of other groups in his school doing the same thing. Gathered together to wait what will happen next.

As soon as Kohta and Shizuka exited from the bus. She put on a clip name tag as instructed by the administration. It would also help the Western High School Chaperones identity who they were looking for when their group would join up with them.

Saya walked up to Takashi and snapped her fingers in front of his eyes to get him out of his daze. She then grabbed his hand and pulled him to the rest of the group.

As Fujimi's buses were empty, they drove off and allowed the buses from the Western High School to drive up and unload their students and chaperones.

The group of students in Shizuka's became silent and watched who would come out. As soon as the doors opened, the two different cultures would meet. The students were not Asian, they were of different ethnicities. Caucasian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and Black. Some where tall, some were short. Everyone had a different body type from the fit and gorgeous, to the scrawny and fat. A Majority of them were Caucasian, but they were still racially diverse. Their clothing was so colorful and unique.

Preppy.

Skater.

Goth.

Hipster.

Urban.

These were just a few of the perfect examples on how different each student from the Western High School was like. Dyed hair, extensive make-up, Band T-Shirts, Sports themed hats, jewelry, truly a unique group these teenagers were. Takashi was somewhat envious that they were allowed to wear normal street clothes to school, but he had to wear a stupid uniform.

Saya leaned close to him. "We better not be paired up with a stupid group." She whispered.

The final student that exited the bus caught the attention of every male student in the group. It was a girl. She was about Rei's height, her hair was long and blonde. the front of her hair was combed to the side to avoid getting into her eyes. Her eyes! They were blue, just brighter than Saeko's. Her body was thin but well toned. Her skin was pale, but she was just too gorgeous. She looked like an angel...Or a ghost from Saya's point of view.

The girl wore skinny denim jeans, black and pink DC Shoes, and a white V-neck t-shirt.

The chaperone for the western students waved at Shizuka as he approached her. He was a scrawny, nerdy fellow by the name of Mr. Ron. Thick glasses, a bowtie along with a white button up shirt, pressed light brown slacks, and cheap penny loafers. Shizuka was polite and waved at him back, but a little disappointed inside that she wasn't with a more attractive partner.

Shizuka and Mr. Ron caught the attention of the students as they turned towards the two of them waiting to see what they would say next. Mr. Ron decided he would be the first to start introductions.

"Hello students of Ms. Marikawa's group. I'm Mr. Ron and this is my group that will be joining you alongside the tour." He waved at the Fujimi group. In return, some of them waved back, said hello, or bowed.

"And I'm Ms. Marikawa! But Mr. Ron already told you that." She giggled as she spoke to Mr. Ron's group.

"And these wonderful students will also be joining you on the tour." She motioned towards her group.

The greeting Shizuka got was different. Some were polite and said hi, others just shrugged her off.

"Ok, what we want you all to do before we meet up with our tour guide is both groups line up and face each other and introduce yourselfs." Mr. Ron instructed.

Both Fujimi and Western students quickly lined up and turned to each other. Takashi was at the very far end of the line and noticed nobody was in front of him. Row by row, each person said their name to the student in front of them. They would then shake hands and the next pair would repeat the process.

When it was finally Takashi's turn, he looked at the two chaperones.

"Um, I don't have anyone to introduce myself to." He said.

Mr. Ron looked through his clipboard to do a re-count of anyone he missed. He looked up.

"Fina?"

The gorgeous girl who was in front of Saeko looked at Mr. Ron.

"Where Elijah?" He asked.

"I woke him up to tell him today was our first day, and he said he would up and ready soon, but by the time I was ready, he was still sleeping so I went to school without him." She explained. Fina's voice was soft and gentle. It was soothing to hear.

Mr. Ron shook his head. "Well I guess he'll get deducted a few points for this."

Just as he was about to write something down. Someone at the distance was shouting.

"HHHHEEEEYYYY!"

Both groups turned to see a lone figure on a skateboard coming his way towards them at full speed. He stopped at the very edge of the sidewalk in front of Takashi.

He was black, about Takashi's height, slim but athletic. His face was youthful and he appeared to be approachable and friendly. His hair was short and shaved. This must be Elijah. He had on a black T-shirt that had the Ken Block skull and crossbone logo on the front with the number 43 on the skull's forehead. He wore faded jeans that had a few rips in them and Ken Block running shoes. Elijah also had a backpack of his own, It was a blue Subaru Rally Team USA backpack.

His skateboard was unique, the deck was made of carbon fiber.

"Well, well, well. Decided to show up after all Elijah?" Mr. Ron asked with a tone of sarcasm.

Elijah scratched the back of his head. He felt awkward with everyone looking at him.

"I know, I know. I'm late. But c'mon, it's my first day. Can't you give me a break?" He asked with an innocent smile. Elijah's voice had a slight urban tone, but he spoke smooth and clearly.

_'I can't remember how many times I've tried asking my teachers to cut me some slack whenever I was late to class.'_ Takashi thought

Mr. Ron raised an eyebrow and thought for a few seconds before coming to his decision. "Very well, but if you're late again, you'll have to serve detention." He said sternly.

"Now introduce yourself to the young man in front of you." Mr. Ron pointed at Takashi.

Elijah and Takashi looked at each other, they gave each other vibes that they never felt before. They didn't feel threatened. They were different, but similar somehow. Elijah walked up and patted Takashi on the arm.

"Hey what's up? I'm Elijah Senna. Sorry for holding you up." He said.

Takashi waved his hand and smiled. "No it's cool. I've been in the same situation as you many times. I'm Takashi Komuro."

Shizuka and Mr. Ron turned to each other and nodded in approval.

"Alright, well everyone. Let's go meet with our tour guide." Mr. Ron said.

Since Elijah held up the group, they were the last ones to have entered the building. Fina slowed down her pace so Elijah would catch up to her. She had her arms crossed and looked annoyed.

"I told you to get up, why did it take you so long to get here?" She asked.

"I went to bed late, I was up all night playing video games. Plus I was so jacked up on energy drinks, I couldn't go to bed even if I wanted to." Elijah answered.

It was unintentional, but Takashi and Elijah were walking next to each other. Takashi couldn't help but eavesdrop on the conversation between Elijah and Fina. The video game and energy drink excuse sounded all too familar to him. Takashi's been there before.

"Next time you don't wake up, I'm going to pour a bucket of water on you." Fina said as she gently hit him on the arm.

The entry into the front receptionist overwhelmed everyone inside. Not because of the desk, but because of the room it was in.

The interior was incredibly huge. Everything was white from the floors to the walls. Behind the receptionist was a large open space about the size of a football field, looking above was a window that covered the entire ceiling. The sun was shining down leaving a large rectangle of light on the floor, with the Weyland-Yutani logo on the very center. On all four sides, there were levels and levels of various offices and rooms, along with elevators and stairways on all four corners. On both sides were large rows of pillars that helped support the multiple levels.

"Wow." Takashi quietly whispered.

Mr. Ron and Shizuka were greeted by the group's tour guide. He was a tall, slim middle aged man, with some grey hair on the sides. He had on a lab coat with slacks and a striped button up shirt tucked in along with a red tie.

He politely shook hands with Mr. Ron and Shizuka and turned to face the group of students.

"Hello everyone, I'm Hideo Eto. My job at Weyland-Yutani is involved in the area of robotics. I'm the chief overseer on how we develop and shape androids for future endeavors." He explained.

The group replied with a forceful, but polite hello.

"I should mention that robotics aren't just the only thing we develop. Ever since the merge with Yutani corporation, we've expanded our interests. We want to help shape our World for the future, and hopefully go beyond that."

Hideo paced back and forth, motioning his hands as he was speaking. He was starting to get into his opening speech.

"Japan has been the leading country in the world to help develop androids. What started out as simple machines doing tasks, we've helped create artificial people who are on the verge of becoming indistinguishable from us. What was once a science fiction concept, has now become a reality."

Takashi noticed Rei whispering something into Hisashi's ear, making him laugh. Takashi rolled his eyes and focused on Hideo's speech.

"Today, I'm going to show you what resources we have here at this facility and at the end of the tour, you're going to meet someone special. Now let's begin the tour, shall we?"

And with that, the group followed Hideo to the first of several research facilities. Saya walked next to Takashi and pulled on his ear. "I'm still here you know." She said harshly.

Takashi looked back at her, rubbing his ear. "I know." He replied.

Kohta stayed close with Shizuka and Mr. Ron, he didn't know any of the other students and he would feel awkward trying to talk to any of them, dispite the encouragement of interacting with people he didn't know.

Rei and Hisashi were holding hands and would often whisper something to each other that Takashi couldn't be able to make out, he thought it would be best to ignore them and focus on the tour instead.

Saeko was still with the two third year students she sat with on the bus, however she gave her complete attention to the tour guide and nothing else. She knew it would be rude if she didn't pay attention.

The other students in the group were either polite, muttered about how boring this tour was, or didn't pay any attention to Hideo and the tour at all.

The back of the group was composed of Takashi, Saya, Elijah, and Fina. Fina would focus on the tour, but she would have to quietly scold Elijah once in a while to have him pay attention. They seemed to be real close from Takashi's point of view.

"Hey, Y'know who our tour guide reminds me of?" Elijah whispered towards Fina.

Fina sighed. "What?"

Elijah thought for a second. "I dunno, I was hoping you would have an idea on who he would remind you of." He answered.

Fina rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Hideo.

Takashi heard this random remark and laughed quietly. Saya shifted her eyes towards him.

"What are you laughing about?" She asked.

Takashi quickly stopped laughing and cleared his throat. "Oh, that guy next to me said something completely random." He pointed towards Elijah and Fina.

Saya leaned over Takashi to see the two quietly bicker at one another. "They kind of act like us, he doesn't seem to pay attention to anything and that pale looking girl is doing whatever she can to make him shut up and focus."

An idea popped up in Saya's head.

"Go talk to him." She said.

Takashi looked at her with some surprise. "What?"

Saya smiled. "You heard what Ms. Marikawa said, go and interact." She mischievously pushed Takashi's side into Elijah.

Elijah was caught off guard when Takashi stumbled over his feet and bumped into him. "Whoa there, you okay?"

Takashi regained his balance and blushed slightly from the embarrassing and awkward moment.

"Uh yeah, I just uhhhh, I just." Takashi was scratching the back of his head as he tried to come up with an excuse to why he was bumped into Elijah.

"I just tripped over my shoe lace." He finished explaining.

Elijah looked down at Takashi's feet, his shoelaces were perfectly tied.

"Pfft! Look at your shoes, they're still tied up." He said as he pointed down at Takashi's feet.

Takashi was starting to feel really awkward at this point, being suddenly forced to talk to a complete stranger. He looked back at Saya who was motioning him to keep talking to Elijah. She started to see a similarity between the two in terms of personality, and she truly felt he needed a new friend after all this time of being so distant and quiet.

"Hey, I like your skateboard." Takashi pointed out.

Elijah looked down at the skateboard he was carrying at his side.

"Yeah? Thanks. You skate?" He asked.

Takashi shook his head. "No, it just looks really cool. I've never see a skateboard quite like that before."

Elijah tilted his head. "Really? You kinda give off a skater vibe. If you don't skate, what's your thing? Like, what do you like to do?" he asked.

Saya and Fina both noticed that these two were starting to develop a conversation. What started out as an awkward push, became an ever so increasing interest between the two young men. Takashi and Elijah would quietly talk about various subjects and interests. Dispite being racially different, they shared alot of common interests in activities, video games, music, and movies.

The tour around the facility was going on schedule. The group would often stop at a laboratory or hanger bay where Hideo would discuss what goes on in what room. Some sections dealt with creating vehicles, others with machinery, and empty rooms that were currently in development.

_**11:20AM...**_

As the tour was nearing completion, Hideo knew the time was near to introduce the group to the 'special someone' he talked about prior. He lead the students and the two chaperones to the robotics research lab and they all stopped in front of a large curtain.

Hideo stood in front of the curtain, facing the curious group.

"Well boys and girls, it's time for you to meet that special person. Is everyone ready?" He asked.

The group nodded.

Hideo smiled and turned around to pull the curtain to the side. There was a glass wall and door behind it. And inside was a room. At the other end of the room was a large soft bed with someone sleeping inside it. It was difficult to make out exactly who it was because the covers engulfed the sleeping figure, but it wouldn't be long until whoever it was that was sleeping would be revealed.

Hideo pressed a few buttons on a keypad, allowing the door to be unlocked. Hideo opened the door and waved everyone to enter. The students surrounded the bed, curiousity was growing by every passing second.

Hideo made his way through the students and leaned over the bed, gently shaking the sleeping person.

"It's time for you to wake up, you have visitors." Hideo whispered into the person's ear.

The sleeping person slowly sat up and revealed herself to the group. It was a young woman about their age. She was in a silk white night gown. Her appearence was innocent and curious as she scanned every face that was looking at her. She was bald, had no hair or eyebrows. Her eyes were silver.

Hideo smiled at his creation. "Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Anna. She is an artificial person I'm currently developing."

There was complete fascination amonst the group. They've heard stories and news reports on these...People. But they never had the chance to meet one until now. She looked so real.

Not everyone was fascinated about the concept of such beings. Saya was actually creeped out of the fact that mankind would go out their way to make such a thing. Saeko was secretly against the idea of artificial people living with true, genuine humans. But she didn't oppose to it openly.

Rei was too overwhelmed to get a final feeling on these unique machines.

Takashi and Kohta were amazed, this was a moment they wouldn't soon forget.

"Anna, say hello." Hideo said.

"Hello everyone." Her voice sounded so perfect and normal.

"Everyone, Anna is currently being developed in hopes to fully replicate the physical and emotional experiences an actual human being goes through. But her programming as come so far ever since she was a bunch of zeroes and ones on a computer." Hideo explained.

A couple of students muttered a few mixed reactions about Anna.

"So Anna, what can you do?" Hideo asked her.

Anna looked down to think for a few seconds before looking back up to reply.

"I can do almost anything that is asked of me. I can assist people who are in need of help, I can also independently perform some tasks that I wish to do. Such as read, play music on instruments, and draw." She answered.

Hideo smiled proudly. "What do you think about Anna?"

Again, Anna looked down to think before answering.

"I think of many things. Life, the world around me, the well being for the people who helped create me. I even have dreams. I dream of becoming more advanced than I am now. Hoping to fully coexist with people and become friends with them."

Hideo thought of another question to ask.

"Anna, what makes you sad?"

Anna's facial expression changed and lowered her head slightly. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"War, cruelty, poverty, racism, the loss of a loved one. I understand human emotions, but I do not feel them myself. I hope to one day feel the same emotions all of you do." Anna lifted her hand to wipe away the tear that barely touched her upper lip.

"Tell me Anna, is there anyone here who stands out to you?" Hideo asked.

Anna looked around until she saw Saeko, standing with her arms crossed. Her face showed no emotion when looking at Anna.

"You have beautiful long hair. I hope to have hair like yours soon." Anna kindly said.

Saeko was caught a little off guard by this remark. She lifted her hand and gently stroked the hair Anna was amazed at. "Oh, why thank you." Saeko had a small smile at Anna's kind words. However deep down inside, Saeko was uncomfortable.

Hideo checked his watch, it was getting close to lunch.

"Well everyone, that concludes the tour. Your chaperones will escort you to the cafeteria for lunch. I hope some of you will consider a future with us at Weyland-Yutani." He said.

The students politely clapped and thanked Hideo for the tour. Shizuka and Mr. Ron then instructed the group to follow them into the cafeteria. As the group walked out, Takashi noticed Saya was shuddering.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Those glorified toasters freak me out. They're getting TOO human." She said bitterly.

"What about you?" Elijah asked Takashi.

Takashi thought for a few seconds. "They're something else, I'll admit that. But they give me mixed feelings. I can see how they might need to help people with some stuff, but to make them just like us? I don't know how to feel about that." He explained.

Elijah and Fina were completely amazed. They had bright and positive thoughts on what the future holds for these androids. "God, I'm starving." Elijah said with a sigh.

Takashi nodded. "Yeah, me too."

Rei looked over her shoulder to see that Takashi and Elijah were talking. Throughout the whole tour, she could hear them talk and laugh, but looking at him now, Takashi seemed to have made a new friend. If Takashi is happy, Rei was too. She began to feel nostalgic when she thought of the times She and Takashi would talk and laugh about the most random of things and feel so carefree.

_**Noon...**_

The cafeteria was large, about the size of a basketball court. There were three to four dozen rows of lunch tables with students completely filling them. At one end were six chefs that prepared various meals for the students to eat. Ranging from traditional Japanese dishes, to meals you would find in an American High School. The Chaperones were eating outside and socializing with one another. Some were proud of their students for behaving so well, otheres were constantly complaining about how their group was quite the handful.

Takashi, Elijah, Fina, Saya, Morita, Rei, and Hisashi filled an entire section of a table as they ate their meals. Takashi, Saya, Rei, and Hisashi sat on one side, while Morita, Elijah, and Fina sat on the opposite in those two orders. Everyone else sitting at the table they didn't know.

Saeko was sitting the next row over with her back faced towards the small group. She was engaged with a conversation her friends and kendo teammates were having.

"By the way, this is Fina." Elijah introduced Takashi to her. He waved.

"Hey." He greeted.

Anna smiled. "Hi."

Takashi thought it would be best to introduce his group of friends to them.

"This little punk right here is Morita." Takashi ruffled Morita's hair the same in the same fashion as he did to Takashi earlier in the morning. Morita pushed Takashi's hand away and readjusted his hair.

"Thanks alot! How am I supposed to look good in front of the girls? Anyways, whats up?" Morita gave Elijah and Fina the peace sign, to which they returned. Saya choked on her drink, trying not to laugh at Morita thinking he was some sort of chick magnet. _'How does Komuro know that guy anyway?' _She thought.

Takashi playfully pushed Saya who was sitting next to him at the table. Mostly out of revenge for her pushing him into Elijah earlier. "This 'genius' next to me is Saya Tagaki. Sometimes I like to call her Little Miss Brainiac."

Saya punched Takashi in the arm. "Shut up! You need geniuses like me in your life to get you through high school so don't forget that!" She shouted. The small group laughed.

"Hi Little Miss Brainiac." Elijah said with a rather cheesy smile.

Saya narrowed her eyebrows. "Don't push me." She retorted.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to her. She's actually a good friend." Takashi explained.

He then turned his attention over to Rei and Hisashi. "Those two over there, that's Rei Miyamoto and her boyfriend Hisashi Igou. We go way back." Rei and Hisashi greeted them with a simple wave, to which Elijah and Fina returned.

"So you two, tell us about yourselves." Saya asked. She wanted to put them to the test if they were worthy enough to be acquainted with.

Fina and Elijah looked at each for a second and asked who would explain the story. Fina decided to start first. "Well, Elijah and I are roommates at an apartment. We both signed up for the foreign exchange program, but alot of Japanese High Schools were filled up so they put us in a school where the Western students go to to partially make up for our effort to be here. We met for the first time about three weeks ago, and got along since." She explained.

Morita was interested in Fina. He wanted to learn more about her.

"So Fina, what are you into?" He asked with great interest. Takashi put the palm of his hand to his face. He knew where this was going.

"Well, I do gymnastics and I love to dance. Oh, both Elijah and I have the same musical tastes." She replied.

Takashi looked through the gaps of his fingers to see Morita smiling. What he didn't know was that Morita had the mental image of Fina spinning on a stripper pole wearing exotic clothing.

"Yeah, same with me. I signed up for the exchange program and it's cool to be paired up with someone as chill as Fina. We bicker here and there, but it's all good." Elijah and Fina bumped fists. They seemed to be so close in such a short amount of time.

"As for my interests, T.K. and I pretty much like the same things. It's crazy, but cool. Aside from skateboarding, I love and want to pursue a career in becoming a DJ. I even brought along my entire equipment with me. I always have some tune in my mind that I want to mix up, and Fina always ends up dancing to it." Elijah said.

Takashi was quite surprised. Elijah gave him a nickname. It kind of had a cool ring to it.

The entire cafeteria instantly became silent as something was happening at one of the corners. What Takashi saw earlier in the morning was happening again.

Kohta was walking to sit somewhere distant away from all the others, when he was pushed down. The food and drink from his lunch tray spilled on the floor. It was those three punks, laughing and taunting him. "I think you have too much food on that tray, fucking fat piece of shit." One of the punks shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.

Kohta was on his hands and knees, shaking. So much rage was being built on inside that he was in tears. He wanted to stand up and beat those punks into a bloody pulp, but they were right. He wasn't fit enough to fight physically. Plus it was three to one, judging by their physical appearence, they would have no problem beating him up if he dared fought back.

What happened after shocked the small group of friends, but a huge impact on Kohta.

"Hey! What the fuck was that?"

Kohta turned his head and brushed away the tears. The three punks looked to see who was confronting them.

It was Elijah.

As soon as he saw what was happening, he instantly stood up from his seat. His hands were balled up into fists. The three punks were caught off guard at someone attempting to defend Kohta. It never happened before.

Takashi and the small group of friends were also caught off guard, they didn't expect anyone to stand up for Kohta, let alone Elijah. In the past they've witnessed Kohta being bullied, and felt sorry for him. With the exception of Saya who thought he needed to learn how to stand up for himself. And Saeko simply because he was a year below her and only saw him get bullied once, and that didn't leave much of an impact on her.

While Takashi and the others were watching with great concern and worry of a possible fight breaking out. Saeko was calmly looking with an eyebrow raised as she was sipping on a can of juice.

"I asked you a question. What the fuck was that?" Elijah stepped out of his seat and began to walk towards the three punks.

"Wait, Elijah." Fina attempted to grab his arm, but he was quickly walking to the three bullies. Standing face to face with them.

The entire cafeteria gave their complete attention to the confrontation. Some were hoping for a fight, others were getting nervous.

The three punks laughed with each other. "Why do you care? Are you and Hirano a faggot couple now?" The leader of the three mocked. He was about to lift up his water bottle for a drink before Elijah stepped up and violently smacked it from his hand, the bottle flying across the cafeteria. The punk leader was caught off guard and had to recollect himself for a second to realize what just happened.

Takashi flinched. He knew those three were the biggest and baddest trio in school, and they brought massvie intimidation to a large number of people. But he never thought he would see anyone do what Elijah just did.

Elijah was just an inch away from the leader. Their noses almost touching.

"You knocked him down, why don't you try knocking me down?" Elijah was ready for a fight, he didn't care who these three were, he hated bullying. Kohta was wide eyed and in awe, he was being saved by a stranger.

The punk leader was getting a massive amount of rage built up inside him. "You lookin' for trouble?"

Elijah slowly nodded.

Their knuckles were turning white from clenching their fists. Before anyone could make a move, a loud whistle was blown.

Everyone turned to see all the teachers, and chaperone voulunteers standing at the opposite end of the cafeteria. They were in line and demanded to know what was happening.

"What is the meaning of this?" Fujimi's Gym Teacher roared as he approached the four young men.

Elijah pointed at Kohta. "These three pushed him down and were causing trouble. They were taunting him. I wanted to confront them and ask why they were doing this." Elijah's response was loud and clear, he wanted to stand his ground.

"Is this true?" The Gym Teacher asked the cafeteria.

Everyone agreed with a simple but loud yes.

The Gym Teacher pointed at the three and grabbed the leader by the collar. "You three, come with me to the security office. As for you, I'm reporting this to your administrator. You should've grabbed one of us to help solve this problem. You should not take matters like these into your own hands." And with that, He marched the three troublemakers away.

The cafeteria resumed their eating and conversations. Some were disappointed and were wanting to see a fight, but alot of the students were glad this ended somewhat peacefully.

Elijah knelt down and offered his hand to Kohta. "Hey, let me help you up."

Kohta timidly took his hand and stood up. Elijah brushed off some dust that covered his uniform and patted him on the back. "You okay?" He asked.

Kohta nodded, wiping away some tears. "Yes, thank you."

Fina got up from her seat and rushed over to Elijah.

"Dude, why the hell did you do that? You could get detention for this." She scolded.

Elijah shrugged. "I don't care, I couldn't let what those three did to him slide. I'm going to clean up this mess and get him a new meal."

Elijah walked over to one of the chefs to order a new meal for Kohta and to get a mop.

Fina looked at Kohta, still shocked at Elijah for helping him.

"Um, would you like to sit with us?" She asked.

Kohta looked over to see that Elijah and Fina were sitting with Takashi, Rei, Hisashi, and Saya. Morita he didn't know.

"I would like that." He quietly answered.

Fina scooted over to allow Kohta some room. He was very quiet, he wouldn't look up.

"What's your name?" Fina asked.

"Kohta Hirano." He replied meekly

Fina looked over to the others, they were suddenly quiet. This was the first time they heard Kohta speak. "Do you know any of these people?" She asked.

Kohta looked around at the group who had the same concerned expression, except Saya.

"Komuro, Miyamoto, Igou, and Takagi I share the same class with. That guy, I don't know." Of course, 'that guy' was Morita.

Fina descreetly pointed at Kohta and mouthed the words 'say hi to him'.

Everyone kindly said hi. Except Saya, she had her arms crossed and looked at Kohta with disappointment.

"You need to learn how to man up." She bluntly said.

Fina was a little disgusted by that remark, bus soon remembered she was quite bitter.

Elijah returned after cleaning up the mess of food that was knocked over from earlier. In one hand he had a slice of pizza on a paper plate, and a can of Mountain Dew in the other. "Here you go, eat up." Elijah said as he handed Kohta his new meal.

"Th-Thanks." Kohta replied with a small smile. Kohta still felt a tiny bit awkward, but he was also happy he was sitting with a group of friends.

"His name is Kohta Hirano." Fina said to Elijah.

Elijah held out his hand. "Hey, what's up? I'm Elijah."

Kohta had a slightly bigger smile and shook his hand.

"So guys, I was thinking. Since Me and Fina are new here, is there a chance we could all hang out sometime? Y'know, show us the sights. What's fun around here, all that spiffy cool stuff." Elijah asked.

Takashi nodded. "Sure, I'm in."

Rei and Hisashi talked it over with themselves for half a minute. "It depends on what day, but we're up for it." Hisashi answered.

Morita answered with a simple thumbs up.

"I'll think about it." Saya muttered.

Elijah looked at Kohta. "What about you? Wanna hang out?"

Kohta froze for a second. Nobody has ever asked him to hang out before. He didn't want to get all girly and excited with his response. "I'd like that." He answered.

The small group exchanged phone numbers and links to their facebook profiles. It was Monday, so they had plenty of time to figure out when would be a good time for a chance to hang out.

The next table over, Saeko was finished with her meal and listening to her friends talking about their upcoming kendo tournament. There was a ton of confidence amonst the team that they would surely in it with great ease.

Deep down inside, she was glad that someone stood up to those three assholes. They tarnished the school's reputation. What she didn't know is that she would become involved with the group behind her very soon.

_**3:30PM...**_

Every group of Fujimi and Western High said their farewells. Some made new friends, others didn't. Aside for one intense moment, it was an okay day.

Elijah and Fina said goodbye to Takashi and the others as they went to their own bus. Elijah was quite glad to ride a bus considering how long it took for him to skate all the way over to the facility.

Shizuka waved everyone into the bus, the group of students sat in the exact same seats they sat in. Before she took her seat, she wanted to say a few words.

"Well, I hope everyone had a good time today. Did anyone make any new friends?" She asked.

Kohta raised his hand. "I did Ms. Marikawa!"

Shizuka smiled at Kohta. "Wonderful! Anyone else?"

Some students replied. Others didn't.

"Well, it's time for us to head back to school now. Let's go Mr. bus driver!" She cheered as she pointed onwards to where the bus driver was driving.

Takashi was looking out the window. Instead of looking depressed, he was smiling softy as he looked out the window. Maybe, just maybe. Elijah was the friend he needed.

During the tour, another event took place. In one of the offices there was an interview being held. A man by the name of Takumi Matoko was applying for a job to work for the Tokonosu Weyland-Yutani facility. He had all the experience and met all the qualifcations to be a part of The Matriarch Project.

What they didn't know was Matoko was the second mule.

**WEYLAND-YUTANI DE-BRIEFING REPORT: TAKUMI MATOKO**

**After extensive backtracking and background research, we have identified that a Mr. Takumi Matoko was the sole employee responsible for the global Xenomorph outbreak. Initially we were to launch an investigation and bring him into custody, but after discovering he was deseased a few days after the outbreak, we felt it was best to turn to other serious matters at hand. However, we have found two other mules alive that were assigned for the corporate espionage concerning The Matriarch. They are currently serving time for their illegal actions.**

**They will be assigned to convict labor in the very near future.**

Alright. So that's Chapter five. Let's go into further details on Elijah and Fina, shall we?

NAME: Elijah Senna

HEIGHT: 5'9 (Takashi's height)

WEIGHT: 135 lbs.

TALENTS: Skateboarding, DJ'ing, Hacking. He will be considered the Tech expert of the group.

PERSONALITY: Happy-go-lucky, concerned for the well being of others, humorous, but serious when the time calls for it. Has tons of Charisma. Out of everyone in the group, he and Takashi will have a "bromance" relationship. Knows he has only one life to live and intends to live it to the fullest.

FASHION: He is someone I imagine to dress up as a skater. I can see him wearing some urban/hip hop clothing. But Elijah isn't a ghetto type person.

WHY IS HE BLACK?: I'm not black, and I've always written characters who were racially diverse. He's inspired by two fictional characters. While this isn't a Zombie story, Elijah is inspired by the character Ben, played by actor Duane Jones in George A. Romero's Night Of The Living Dead. If this was a pure HOTD fanfiction, I wouldn't have added Elijah as a main character, perhaps as a supporting character in homage. The other character Elijah is inspired by is The Rookie, a playable Colonial Marine character in the 2010 Aliens vs. Predator video game.

NAME: Fina Prost

HEIGHT: 5'5 (Rei's height)

WEIGHT: 119

TALENTS: Dance, Gymnastics, Parkour, Archery. I haven't fully decided what exact role she will play with the group, but I'll come to a conclusion soon.

FASHION: She simply can look good in anything.

PERSONALITY: A no-nonsense girl when things start to get remotely serious. Elijah's presence reminds her that she needs to take a step back and enjoy whatever amount of time she has left. Often watches people's actions from a distance.

TRIVIA: Elijah and Fina's last names come from Formula One Drivers Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. They were arch rivals.

Also, this chapter is giving you hints on how Synthetics will play a part in the story. So just FYI.

Finally, I'd like to add that if you're having a hard time picturing what Elijah and Fina look like. I actually found two real life people that are actually the spitting images I had in my head on how I thought they looked like. NOTE: IT WAS PURE COINCIDENCE.

Elijah looks like Markiss McFadden, if he looks familiar to you, he was in the movie Transformers: Dark Of The Moon. Also Markiss's voice is what I imagined Elijah to sound like.

Fina I envisioned to look somewhat like Shiro from Deadman Wonderland, but model Laura Ivana fitted her appearence perfectly.

So be sure to google those two, and you'll see what they look like and try to imagine them in anime form. Also, Elijah is clean shaven.

Not to mention the clothes Takashi, Kohta, and Elijah will wear throughout the series are based on clothes I actually own.

Also, just to comfirm. NO neither of these two OC's will have any romantic links with Takashi and the others. They will have close moments with the other characters, but nothing past close friendship. They won't even be a couple in this story.

So in the meantime, I'll be working on Chapter 6.


	6. Corporate Espionage

Before you read this chapter, I feel like I should explain a few things. I had to give it some REAL thought as to whether or not I wanted to add OC's. I've never done it before, but since this is a HOTD/AVP Crossover story and I had a couple ideas. I decided to add them in. But like everyone else, Elijah and Fina flaws and weaknesses. They're certainly not perfect. I don't believe in perfection. Also speaking of Fina, if you googled the person Laura Ivana, based on how I described her appearence in Chapter 5, all I can say is that you'll know who you're looking for when you see her.

If people were perfect, we'd all be superheroes, movie stars, skilled athletes and whatnot.

They're not going to steal the spotlight and become the stars, and make everyone else feel like supporting characters. Takashi and the others will have the same big roles as they did in HOTD. Also, I admit that the last chapter when they were introduced, it was a rather weak way. But I promise that developing their friendship will make up for all that.

I have a major complaint. I noticed when it comes to HOTD. fanfics, a portion of them are just about a group of survivors in a zombie apocalypse that have NO connection with HOTD.

**If you're a writer and you're writing an original story that has no connection to the series whatsoever, TAKE IT TO FICTIONPRESS! Don't post it here.**

I'm not gonna lie, I feel this story will be a GREAT challenge. The concept and plot outlines I have mentally set up, but I need to get to those points first before anything.

**Chapter 6: Corporate Espionage**

**Tokonosu Weyland-Yutani Research & Development Facility**

**Personal Employed: 158**

**Site construction completion: 75%**

**Special Cargo Received**

**Designated Sector: Biological Research**

**LEVEL 5 CLEARANCE**

_**Day 1 (Tuesday)...**_

First day on the job, and Takumi could already hear the gossip from the other employees about the new cargo that just arrived. Takumi just turned 23, He was a slim young man. Perfectly combed blonde hair, and what some of the other female employees thought he had 'beautiful baby blue eyes'. He wasn't the tallest guy around, but he certainly wasn't the shortest. He was more of a jeans and regular T-shirt kind of guy, but he still had to wear a lab coat.

As expected, his fake background and credentials got him assigned to Biological Research, the same sector where the special cargo will be placed.

Takumi quickly made his way through a hallway, weaving through other employees walking about. The walls were made of concrete, cold to the touch. The lights above were bright enough to see the opposite end of the hallway. On both sides, Takumi would pass through doors that would take employees into offices, or glass walls where people could see inside a busy laboratory.

He had to meet up with Dr. Satoshi, he would be supervising the Biological Research sector. Takumi stopped at a hallway intersection. He looked up and saw he had to turn right. As he made his way through the end of the hallway, there was a metal door. To the side was a keypad and touch screen.

Takumi pulled out a small piece of paper that had the keycode combination scribbled on, with a few buttons pushed, the next part was to place his hand on the touch screen, confirming he was allowed to enter.

**-ACCESS GRANTED-**

Takumi quietly breathed a sigh of relief. The metal door slid open and Takumi walked inside. The lab inside was quite large. About a couple dozen other employees were inside. Some were sitting in desks, looking through telescopes. Others were on computers, typing something down. Everyone was working swiftly, Takumi was standing in the center of the lab, looking at his surroundings.

"Mr. Matoko, you made it."

Takumi turned to the side to see an older man approach him, in one of the man's hands was a metal case. He looked professional and more appropiately dressed. Looking at his jacket badge, Takumi came to realize that this was Dr. Satoshi.

"Yes sir, I'm more than ready to get to work." Takumi held out his hand to which Dr. Satoshi shook firmly.

"Welcome aboard, come with me please."

Takumi and Dr. Satoshi made their way slowly across the lab, side by side.

"So I'm sure you've heard about the new cargo that came in by now, right?" Dr. Satoshi asked, looking at Takumi.

"Yes sir." He replied.

"We received the cargo at the request of Dr. Lance Eisenberg. According to him, the facility he oversees is currently focusing on other projects, since we're the closest to him and our facility is nearing completion, he requested us to study the specimens he sent to us." Dr. Satoshi continued.

The two approached a large vault door.

Takumi was getting more curious. "Can I ask you something?"

Dr. Satoshi pressed his hand on the vault door's touch screen.

"Sure."

"Just what are these specimens?" He asked.

"Earlier reports sent to us say it's nothing we've ever seen before. But it is organic." As soon as Dr. Satoshi finshed his sentence, a large clanking noise echoed. The vault door was unlocked and was slowly opening.

The two had to step to the side to avoid getting knocked away, behind the door was another hallway.

"Where did they come from?" Takumi asked.

"Y'know I was curious myself and I sent Dr. Eisenberg an E-mail asking the same thing. You know what he said?"

Takumi shook his head.

"Don't ask." Dr. Satoshi answered sternly.

As the two made their way through the metallic and cold hallway, they approached another door. This one was just a simple turn knob door, metallic, but simple. Dr. Satoshi opened the door and allowed Takumi to enter inside first, before entering himself.

Inside the room was a row of twelve large cryotubes. Placed in front of them were a row of metal containers of the same number. The containers were portable freezers, about waist level.

"Open one of them." Dr. Satoshi said calmy.

Takumi looked at him for a second before slowly walking up and kneeling down to the center container. He put his two hands on the top handle and pulled the top upwards. Sliding out from the container shocked him beyond belief.

It was a large, leathery object. About the shape of an egg.

"The other containers hold the exact same thing. Your job here is to sedate these eggs every day. They're frozen right now, but they'll thaw pretty soon." Dr. Satoshi instructed.

"How do you know they're eggs?" Takumi asked.

"Reports say there's a creature inside them, we don't know what, but we're not prepared to know anytime soon until our research has progressed far enough." Dr. Satoshi answered.

Takumi studied the large egg, squinting his eyes, he could make out a silhouette of something curled up inside, but the layer of the egg was just too thick to completely see what it actually was.

Dr. Satoshi handed him the case he was carrying.

"In this case is a syringe and the sedative you can use. Be sure to use the right amount as instructed in the papers, and don't go any deeper than four inches."

"What happens if I go deeper than four inches? Takumi asked.

"The needle will melt. Whatever fluids it the egg contains, it's very corrosive. After your done sedating the eggs, put them in the cryotubes. When you're finished, come to my office for other assignments I got scheduled for you." Dr. Satoshi decided to leave at this point for other supervisor duties.

Takumi watched as Dr. Satoshi left, then turned his attention to the egg.

"Well, time to get to work." He said to himself.

_**1 Hour later...**_

The procedure tested Takumi's patience and precision, but one by one he managed to pull through. Takumi had his arms crossed as he stood in front of the cryotubes with the eggs sealed inside. He felt proud of himself for this little task. Takumi checked his wristwatch. It was close to lunchtime.

The process to enter and exit the Biological Research Sector was rather annoying, but necessary. As long as he got clearence, it shouldn't be a problem to him.

After purchasing his lunch at the cafeteria, he decided to eat it inside his car. Not because it would be more peaceful and quiet, but to check any important updates on his laptop. The parking lot was filled with rows upon rows of vehicles that other employees drove, the ones closest to the facility were reserved for supervisors and higher-ups.

Takumi's spot wasn't too far away, it was about a 15 minute walk. But eventually, he approached his white Toyota Auris. Unlocking his door, he noticed quickly that the heat was built up inside from the sun.

_It sure is nice out today._ He thought.

As soon as he finished his lunch, he checked his watch. He still had plenty of time until he had to return to work.

He reached for his laptop that was sitting on the passenger seat and turned it on. As it was booting up, he scanned around the parking lot. Nobody else around, just hundreds of cars.

Takumi decided to check on the news first to see if there's anything interesting happening locally or globally, there was an interesting report of how Fujimi High School and another filled with Western High School students shared a joint field trip yesterday, but nothing else interesting.

Checking his e-mail, he noticed a new message from his Cyberdyne contact, Edward Timerson.

**Takumi,**

**Change of plans, we will not sending ONE person to pick up ONE sample. We decided to send EVELEN men to infiltrate and take the EVELEN samples from the facility. And we ask you to shut down the power of the entire facility for ONE HOUR. Prior to their arrival, we expect you to write down instructions and the proper equipment that we must use and e-mail it for me to give to our infiltrators on how they can properly care for the samples upon arrival of their assigned destinations. One of them will escort you and take you to Tokonosu Airport where you will be flown outside of their jurisdiction.**

**-Timerson**

Weird. New plans? Oh well. If it came from his contact's personal e-mail, it must be true. Takumi decided to shut down his laptop and head back into the facility to see what Dr. Satoshi had planned for him.

_**Day 2 (Wednesday)...**_

It worked. He fell for it. There was a private meeting being held in an abandoned warehouse at Tokonosu's fishing docks. About a couple dozen men were standing in a circle, in the center was another man, dressed in business attire. Covering him was a black trench coat. The collar was popped, it was hard to make out his face considering how shady the warehouse was inside, but the men knew this was who they were supposed to meet.

If Takumi was a mule for Cyberdyne Systems, these men worked for another rival company, Omni Consumer Products.

"Okay everyone, we have successfully deceived Mr. Matoko. Thank our intel staff for intercepting his contact's phonecall in Australia. Without him, we wouldn't have retrieved his personal contact info and the location of Mr. Matoko." He said.

The men smirked.

"Tomorrow, he will provide you information on how you must properly take care of them during transport. You are all assigned in pairs, one of you will retrieve the samples and put them in carts that have containers built in them. They have reflective plating, so that means if company security wishes to scan whatever it is your carrying, they will appear to be empty. The other will then transport cargo via truck to Tokonosu airport. When you two reach the airport, board the planes that will take you to your assigned destination for our Research Divisions to analyze, research, and hopefully develop." The OCP Contact finished his instructions. These were the best people money could buy, there was confidence that things will go swiftly.

In Antartica, multiple satellites were above the Palmer. This was major competition, morals were thrown out the window. Money was all that mattered. OCP Wanted what Weyland-Yutani and Cyberdyne Systems wanted.

"Wasn't this Matoko guy promised a way out of the city?" One of the men asked.

The OCP contact smirked.

"We'll let Weyland-Yutani and Cyberdyne take care of him, he's not on our payroll." He answered bluntly.

Another hired infiltrator thought of another good question. "How are we supposed to go in and get the samples if they're placed in a level five clearance?"

Several days earlier, the group was given schematics of the facility layout and directions on where to go.

"The facility is still working out some kinks in the system, once in a while they lose power for about a few minutes. Matoko was planning on cutting the power for thirty minutes for the original infiltrator from Cyberdyne to retrieve and exit with one sample. But since he believes there was a change of plans officially instructed by his contact, we've asked for more time. The power doesn't shut down security cameras and lights, but also unlocks all doors, even with level five clearance." The OCP Contact explained.

"Speaking of the other infiltrator, what if we encounter him?"

"You won't. According to previous e-mails, he will arrive at noon, you all will be there two and a half hours prior."

The plan was set in stone. It sounded almost foolproof. Almost

_**Day 3 (Thursday)...**_

The lights in the Biological Division were fading. "Damn blackouts." Takumi muttered. By the third day, he had the routine memorized. Four inches, 8000 CC's of sedative.

Four inches, 8000 CC's. Yep, simple.

Takumi had to sedate the eggs at around 10:30AM. One by one, he completed this simple task. He could do it with his eyes closed even.

Work at the lab was progressing well. There were plans to remove whatever specimen was inside the egg for further research. All the egg was doing was housing it, other than that, it was pretty much useless. Of course that wouldn't happen anytime soon, as one scientist tried to cut open one of the eggs only to have the scalpel melt away from his hands.

After sedating the eggs, it was once again time for lunch. As usual, he would eat in his car. Also he had to write down the instructions on how to sedate the turned on his laptop, eating a sandwich while it was booting up.

**INSTRUCTIONS TO CARE FOR EGG SPECIMEN:**

**-USE HYPODERMIC NEEDLE. 19G x 1 1/2 (1.1 x 40mm) SIZE NEEDLE**

**-DO NOT GO DEEPER THAN FOUR INCHES**

**-USE **

Matoko was startled when someone was knocking on his window. It was Dr. Satoshi. With the push of a button on his door, the window rolled down. Dr. Satoshi smiled and leaned in.

"Don't you think it's a little hot in there?" He asked.

Takumi laughed.

"It doesn't bother me." He answered.

Takumi was multitasking, he HAD to finish writing down the insturctions. While he was looking at Dr. Satoshi, he was quickly typing down the final instruction on how much cubic centimeters of sedative they needed to use.

**-USE 6000 CC'S OF SEDATIVE**

Due to the unwanted presence of Dr. Satoshi, Takumi was rather nervous about him becoming suspicious. So without looking at the screen, he didn't realize he typed down the wrong measurements to sedate the eggs. His finger scrolled across the laptop's touchpad and he pressed a button, sending the instructions to his contact, which was soon infiltrated by OCP. His original contact would never know.

"C'mon inside. Some of the other supervisors want to talk to you about a possible assignment you might be interested in."

Takumi's eyes widen in surprise. "Really?"

Dr. Satoshi smiled and nodded. "Sure, come with me."

He waved for Takumi to get out of the car. Takumi looked at his screen which displayed the words 'YOUR MESSAGE WAS SENT'. He quickly shut down his computer and followed Dr. Satoshi inside.

He was unaware of the fatal mistake he just made.

_**Day 4 (Friday)...**_

_**8:00AM...**_

Today was the day, Takumi decided to go to work early. No fuck ups, no interruptions, no excuses. He had to hack into the power system and set the shutdown through a small device. Two and a half hours from now. Thankfully, with level five clearance, he could go anywhere he wanted.

Instead of heading towards the Biological Division, Takumi was heading towards the Power Control Room. If anyone stopped him, he could come up with a half-assed, but legit reason why he was heading there. Such as re-routing more power to the cyrotubes.

As he made it to the Control Room's door, he looked to his left and right. Just other employees walking by. He turned the knob and entered inside.

The Control Room was dark, a wall was covered with switches, knobs, and wires. One section had hundreds of blinking buttons, each color-coded in blue, red, yellow, and green to their designated sector.

On the other side was a row of power generators, calmly humming. Takumi touched one of them, feeling a gentle vibration. Turning his attention to the wall, Takumi had to scan for the proper input slot where he would place a small device. The device would initiate a countdown that was set up by Takumi to shut down the power for whatever amount of time it was programed for. As instructed, it would be at 10:30AM for one hour.

Not even the backup generators would help turn on the power.

After finding the right slot, Takumi pulled out the device from his pocket. It was tiny and very fragile. After gently inserting the device, he pushed the button, the countdown was starting.

"Yes!" He quietly whispered. He left the room quickly to head back to his sector.

_**9:00AM...**_

Takumi was sitting in a desk at the lab, calmly reading a newspaper. To be honest, he didn't really pay attention to the paper. Inside he was excited. By the time they knew the eggs were missing, he would be long gone and a big paycheck was waiting for him.

"You're here early." Takumi looked up from his paper. It was Dr. Satoshi.

"Yeah, well I just felt like starting the day early." Takumi answered.

Dr. Satoshi pulled up a seat from another desk and sat close to Takumi.

"So, have you considered our job offering? Being my assistant supervisor? You have a ton of potential and a bright future for someone your age." Dr. Satoshi placed his hand on Takumi's shoulder. He had a ton of faith and trust in him.

Takumi nodded. "I'll do it. I haven't disappointed you at all, have I?"

Oh how badly Takumi wanted to see Dr. Satoshi's reaction when he betrays him. Might as well add insult to injury.

Dr. Satoshi patted his back.

"Great, I'll get the papers set up, meet me at my office after lunch. Don't forget to sedate the eggs." Dr. Satoshi left Takumi alone in the lab. A few minutes later, other employees entered and went to work at their assigned areas.

_**10:26AM...**_

Every minute felt like an hour. Takumi was pacing back and forth close to the vault door. God, how can this much tension be so stressful? Takumi had to focus on other things. Like what was he going to do with all that money? Buy a private island? Cruise around in a fancy sports car? Call up an escort? Oh the list goes on.

Takumi was also wondering why all of a sudden they wanted multiple eggs. Probably in case if they destroyed one of them, they would have a backup. That seems logical. Or maybe because they're being sent to different locations, Cyberdyne is offering a major reward to see which research team can make the most fascinating discovery.

Also, who were the other mules Cyberdyne hired? Maybe it was best if he didn't ask those kind of questions.

The room went dark.

"God dammit! The power is out!" Somone shouted.

Takumi smiled. This was it.

His heart was thumping. Everyone stopped working and began to talk with one another, complaining about how long they have to endure these stupid power outages.

A few minutes later, a line of men entered the room, each wearing scientist uniforms and fake badges. Each carrying a cart. They got through level five clearance.

"Don't worry about us, folks. We were instructed to relocate the specimens to another sector that has power." One of the men explained.

Takumi was standing next to the vault. It too, could open without the need of a handprint.

"Gentlemen, please come with me." Takumi said as the men followed him to the cryotubes.

The men followed Takumi in single file. Each pushing a cart with a large metal container on them. As soon as they walked through the hallway, Takumi opened the door and one by one, the men entered the cryotube room.

In perfect orchestration, the eight men opened up the containers and slid up the cryotubes and each grabbed an egge. They placed the eggs with ease inside the containers. They felt heavy, so there was struggle, but it was quick and swift.

"Okay, so you guys got the instructions I wrote, right?" Takumi asked.

One of the men approached him. He smiled at Takumi.

"Sure did, we'll take it from here." The men locked open the containers and began to leave.

"Hey, what the fuck are you doing? I'm supposed to come with you!" Takumi ran up before that same man turned around.

"Change of plans." The man said sarcastically. The man balled up his fist and punched Takumi across the head, knocking him out cold.

"Let's get outta here." He told the others.

Takumi laid motionless on the floor, he was still breathing faintly. But he wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.

The group of infiltrators made it through the dark hallways. Nobody stopped them, although they had to be prepared for anything. Every step they took felt like a mile, but there was no backing out now.

After what felt like an eternity, they finally made it to the front, where a row of trucks were waiting. The men quickly placed the carts in the back beds and covered them with tarp. No security camera caught any footage of the infiltration, and it would be too late for security to catch them now.

_**11:30AM...**_

**Tokonosu Airport**

After crossing by ferry to the man made island, the trucks finally made it to the airport. There, a row of eleven small cargo jet planes were waiting for them, each having the OCP logo on the back fin.

Each plane had a back hatch open for the driver to park the truck inside, once the trucks were inside the plane, the hatch would lift up and close. One by one, each plane would take off. Heading into various parts of the world. From Europe, to South Africa, to Asia, to North America, and South America.

_**Noon...**_

"Hey. Hey, wake up."

Takumi was regaining consciousness. Someone was gently slapping his cheek.

"Wha..? What's going on? Who are you?" He asked weakly. When his vision became clear, he saw a man close to his age kneeling down.

"Uh, I'm the guy Cyberdyne sent to get that thing. You Takumi Matoko?" He pointed at the remaining egg inside the cryotube.

Takumi rubbed his head where he got punched and nodded slowly, and looked at the last egg still inside the cryotube.

"But, Cyberdyne already got the eggs." Takumi said.

The infiltrator looked confused. "No, because I just got here. The plan was for me to get here by noon."

Takumi thought for a second before his face turned pale.

"Oh shit." He said out loud.

"What? Did something happen?" The infiltrator asked.

"I think someone else got the other eggs. I remembered one of them knocking me out." Takumi answered.

"You serious? Shit. Well, give me that egg. I'll get you out of here. That's still part of the agreement."

The Cyberdyne infiltrator stood up and held out his hand. Takumi took it and went to the cryotube to lift it open.

The top of the egg opened up, like petals from a flower. Takumi jumped back in response. But slowly leaned in soon afterwords.

Takumi's was leaning just over the egg. Until it popped out.

In the blink of an eye, a small creature that was flesh colored pounced out of the egg. Its long, slender finger-like legs gripped around Takumi's face. The tail was wrapped around his neck tightly, any attempt to remove it and the tail would tighten, refusing to let go. The lungs on the side of the creature were slowly pulsing.

Takumi fell back, squirming as his hands reached up to try to grab whatever it was on his face. But after a few seconds, he laid there, motionless. His chest would rise up and sink down slowly, he was still alive.

The infiltrator was shocked. His eyes were wide open as if they would pop out, His mouth was wide open as if he wanted to scream.

"Oh my god." He said to himself.

The infiltrator didn't hesitate to leave Takumi and find help. Whatever was on his face, he had never seen it before.

After making his way to the Biological Research labs, everyone stopped doing their routine work and turned to face him.

"SOMEBODY HELP! THERE'S SOMETHING ON TAKUMI'S FACE!" He shouted.

"Who the hell are you?" Someone asked.

The Cyberdyne infiltrator just remembered that he was in fact in a restricted area, illegally.

"Oh shit." He said in frustration and fear.

"Someone call security."

Takumi never gave the eggs the sedative that day.

_**4:30PM...**_

School was out. Takashi stretched out his arms in relief. He was walking towards the front gate along with Rei, Hisashi, Saya, Kohta, and Morita. Since the field trip, the group was slowly becoming a tight knit group of friends. Elijah and Fina got out of school earlier than they did, and would always wait for them outside the gates.

They would walk home together, often stopping by a mini mart to get some drinks, snacks, and ice cream. Originally, Saya wasn't interested in being part of this newly developed group, and went home in her Rolls Royce, but she didn't like the fact the she was going home alone. Reluctantly, she decided to join up with Takashi and the others the next day.

Kohta was shy at first, but gained some confidence whenever Takashi, Rei, and Hisashi would say hi to him before class. To be honest, it would always brighten up his day. He personally wished Saya would actually be nice to him and say hi, but it would be better to take things one step at a time...or so he hoped.

Rei and Hisashi enjoyed being part of the group. Rei was especially happy that her friendship with Takashi was slowly coming back. But she was still happy being with Hisashi.

Takashi was beginning to accept the fact that Rei and Hisashi were a couple. He still had to get used to being near them whenever the group got together, but he was improving little by little. Plus he had the others to distract him if they got a little too close.

During class for the past week, Takashi would sneakily check his cell phone and see that Elijah would send him a message, asking him how he's doing, starting a conversation through text. Takashi would have to control his laughter by covering his mouth because every once in a while Elijah would say something that would make Takashi want to burst out laughing. Thursday the teacher in his class scolded him and asked if he found the word 'seamen' amusing. Takashi didn't pay attention to the fact his class was reading a book about sailor adventure stories.

Rei would look back once in a while to see Takashi resting his head on his hand looking at his cell phone with a smile. She was happy for him.

As for Morita? Well, he was just his goofy self. Whispering to Takashi how happy he was that he was finally in a group that had two hot and SINGLE girls.

Elijah and Fina both waved at the group walking past the gate. Elijah had on Black jeans and a blue T-shirt with the Sparco logo on the front. Fina was wearing short denim shorts, had flip flops on, a white spaghetti strap tank top, with a gray zip-up hoodie over it that seemed to be made of a thin fabric. She had her hood up, which was kind of a shame. She had long beautiful blonde hair and she shouldn't have to cover it up.

As the group united, they began to walk out of campus and into the city streets.

"So, we were thinking. Since tomorrow is Saturday, do any of you guys got anything planned that night?" Elijah asked openly.

"Well tomorrow night there is a Kendo Tournament at the school. Rei and I were planning on going, you're all welcome to come with us." Hisashi answered.

"When does it start?" Fina asked.

"Six in the afternoon and it lasts until nine." Rei answered.

Takashi decided to wait on everyone's answer. If nobody else wanted to go, he wouldn't.

"I'm guessing it's a big deal, huh?" Elijah asked.

Rei nodded. "Yeah it is. Fujimi is hosting this year's finals. All the Captains across the country are competing. The winner is the National Champion."

"Who's the Captain of Fujimi?" Elijah was getting interested. He never attended a Kendo Tournament before.

"Her name is Saeko Busujima. She's Fujimi's first ever female Captain, She's incredibly skilled. She's won the National Championship two years straight, this is her final year and everyone is saying she might win it for the third time in a row." Hisashi explained.

"Wanna go to that?" Elijah asked Fina.

She nodded. "Sure, why not?"

Takashi nodded as well, at least someone else would be going. "I'll go too, I got nothing planned that night."

"I come too. Just give me a call on where you guys plan to meet up." Kohta quietly said.

Saya had her arms crossed, she seemed uninterested. "I'll think about it." The truth is, she was actually planning on showing up. If Takashi was going, she would too. It's better than staying in a big empty house all night, while everyone else was having a good time.

Since her back was facing Kohta, she never saw him smile.

Morita looked bummed out. "I can't, my grades are slipping so I'm grounded until I bring them back up."

"Bummer." Takashi said to him.

"Cool beans, looks like tomorrow's gonna be a fun night! GO SAEKO! WHOEVER YOU ARE! WE'LL BE CHEERING YOU ON!" Elijah cheered.

Fina jokingly pushed him, making him lose his balance. Elijah responded by pushing her back. The two would exchange pushes as everyone else laughed at their silly 'fight'.

A short distance behind, Saeko was walking behind them. The general direction they were going just so happens to be the way to her house. She didn't pay attention to the group as she was in deep thought about tomorrow night. But when she overheard them talk about the tournament, she studied the group. It turned out with the exception of Morita, they were all in the same group from the field trip.

She couldn't help but smile when Elijah did his silly cheer. She also smiled due to the fact that in such a short period of time, they quickly became a close group of good friends. Something she was lacking in her life. Her Kendo Team was great to be with, but she couldn't seem to remember the last time she hung out with friends. Doing normal things teenagers should do. A tiny part of her wished she had a group of friends like that.

_**5:00PM...**_

Takumi awoke in a hospital room. It took him a few seconds to remember something latched onto his face earlier, but he also remembered how he was punched. Maybe that thing was just a nightmare.

Yeah, that's it. A nightmare.

Takumi laid back down on the bed in relief. He was about to close his eyes when suddenly Dr. Satoshi entered the room. He didn't look too happy.

"Well, you finally came to." He said sternly.

Takumi gulped. He couldn't man up and look at Dr. Satoshi in the eye, so he lowered his head.

"Yeah, I guess I did." Takumi answered timidly. He knew he was in deep shit now.

"Do you remembered what happened?" Dr. Satoshi asked.

Takumi looked up and squinted his eyes, trying to mentally piece together the events that unfolded from earlier that day.

"A group of men came into the sector, stole the eggs and knocked me out." He admitted.

"And?" Dr. Satoshi knew there was more to the story.

"And someone was supposed to meet me, get one of the eggs, and get me out of there." Takumi continued.

"You're a spy." Dr. Satoshi said with a scowl.

"Yes."

"Who sent you?"

"Cyberdyne Systems. They knew Weyland-Yutani had something unique and they wanted it for themselves."

Dr. Satoshi shook his head. "I'm very disappointed in you. But at the same time, I'm also concerned. Do you know what also happened?"

Takumi looked up. It couldn't be that thing, could it?

"A creature emerged from the egg and attached itself onto your face." Dr. Satoshi said.

Takumi started to feel a little worried. "What did it do to me?"

"Nothing, doctors say it was just supplying you with oxygen. It was attached to your face for a couple of hours, until it fell off and died. They tried to remove it, but the tail would tighten. They were afraid it might choke you to death so they decided to wait and see if there were any other options. But since it died and you're awake, you seem to be fine." Dr. Satoshi may have been angry with Takumi, but deep down inside, he was relieved.

Takumi too was relieved, but he knew soon afterwords there was going to be consequences.

"Get up, and get dressed. The police are waiting for you outside, you're going to be arrested. I'm sorry." Dr. Satoshi opened the door and left.

Takumi looked next to him and saw sitting on a chair were his clothes. He sighed in defeat and began to dress himself.

Exiting his room he saw two stern looking police officers. "Turn around and hold your hands back."

Takumi did as he was instructed. This was it, no paycheck. Looks like he'll be staying at the gray bar hotel. One of the officers tightly put a pair of handcuffs on him and on either side, they grabbed his arms as they escorted him out of the hospital with Dr. Satoshi behind and into the police car that was waiting for him.

Takumi stopped.

"Come on, now is not the time to play any games." One of the officers snapped.

Takumi began to cough.

"You can cough while you walk." The other officer said.

Takumi's coughing began to get worse, he began to dry heave. The officers facial expressions went from annoyed to concerned. Takumi's coughing and dry heaving was getting worse. Tears were rolling down his cheeks.

"GET HELP!" One of the officers ordered Dr. Satoshi.

Dr. Satoshi ran inside to find a doctor, the officers helped Takumi by laying him down on the ground.

Takumi could feel a sharp pain build up inside his chest, he began to squirm violently. Moving left and right, his body was violently shaking. The pain was so unbearable that Takumi began to scream out in pain. The officers tried to pin him down, but Takumi's thrusting and twitching would throw them off.

Dr. Satoshi returned with a couple of doctors behind him. He froze in complete horror, what was happening to Takumi?

Takumi bit down so hard that his teeth were starting to shatter.

A doctor approached him with a syringe in hand, hoping it would calm him down.

Takumi screamed one more time when blood was seeping through his shirt. He arched his back as high up in the air as it could go before there was an explosion of blood coming out from his chest.

A tiny scream could be heard from inside Takumi's bloody and exposed chest. The two officers and the doctor fell back as blood splattered on their faces and bodies.

After wiping away the blood, they looked in horror at Takumi's lifeless body. A new creature emerged. It too was flesh colored, but this creature was different. It looked like a snake, the end of its head had no eyes and ears of any kind. However the mouth of the creature had tiny needle like teeth. The creature emerged from the exposed chest and looked around its surroundings, everyone remained still, not knowing what to do or what this creature is exactly.

Just across the street was a storm drain underneath a curb. With one final shriek, the creature quickly slithered out from the body and into the storm drain.

"Good god, did that creature planted that thing inside him?"

**WEYLAND-YUTANI SPECIMEN NOTES - EARLY STAGES OF A XENOMORPH**

**The Facehugger: In laboratory conditions, containment fails less than one percent of the time. Most failures, when they occur, result in the first life-stage of the Xenomorph: The Facehugger. Facehuggers are remarkably quick and cunning, possessing an innate drive to avoid detection and to find an appropriate, isolated host.**

**The Chestburster: During the second stage of life, the Xenomorph is at its most vulnerable. Even inexperienced teams can contain and eliminate the Chestburster with minimal loss of life. Unfortunely, during this phase, the Xenomorph displays an instinctive caution, avoiding all contact. If given time, the Chestburster will eat, molt, and grow into a full-sized drone, or worse, a Queen.**


	7. How we came to be

I must be honest, this story wasn't intended for just fans of Highschool Of The Dead, but for the Alien/Predator fans as well. I'm writing this story as an AvP fan first, and a HOTD fan second. That's not saying HOTD fans wouldn't enjoy the story, but it helps if you have extensive knowledge of the Alien/Predator universe.

I'm going to play with the Takashi/Rei/Saeko love triangle. Personally, I'm a Takashi x Saeko fan, but there's almost no Takashi x Rei stories. Even I don't know who I want Takashi to get paired up with in this story.

I know I'm not going to be accurate with the Kendo tournament depicted in this chapter, so forgive me on that.

**Chapter 7: How we came to be.**

Saturday had arrived, thankfully there was no school today. Takashi slept in a little later than usual. It was close to 11:30AM, but he didn't care. The extra time to sleep in was rather pleasant, it helped Takashi feel more refreshed instead of sleepy. Especially since there were plans for him to meet up with the others at the Kendo Tournament tonight. He never attended a match before. The only time Takashi would ever go to any of Fujimi's sporting events was to see either Rei compete in Sojutso, or Hisashi in Martial Arts before they began to date each other. This would be the first time they all went together as a group.

Takashi yawned and stretched out his arms, his eyes didn't feel heavy as opposed to him waking up early in the morning for school, so it didn't take long for him to feel more awake. He reached over for his cell phone that was next to his pillow to unplug it and check the actual time.

As usual, he slept in nothing but boxer shorts.

After getting up from his bed, Takashi fixed and straightened out the covers and placed his pillows neatly on top of them. Before he went to go take a shower, he decided to pick out some clothes to wear. Looking out the window, it seemed like it was going to be another hot, sunny decided that some light brown cargo shorts, a red T-shirt that had the DC Shoes logo in white on the front, and a pair of Puma EvoSPEED shoes would be a good choice for today and laid them on the bed.

He then left for the bathroom to take his shower.

_**15 minutes later...**_

After showering, brushing his teeth, and getting dressed, Takashi noticed his cell phone was lit up. He received a text from Morita.

**Hey Komuro, man I'm jealous you're going to the tournament! It sucks that I'm grounded, but oh well. Let me know how it goes, k?**

Takashi thought up of a response to send.

**Yeah no problem, enjoy being grounded haha.**

He waited until Morita would send a response of his own.

**Fuck you. **

Morita jokingly sent back. Takashi laughed at the response.

Takashi looked out the window. It was almost noon and he had nothing planned for today. He didn't feel like watching TV or playing video games, so he decided to call Elijah and see what he and Fina were up to.

Takashi opened up his cell phone again and scrolled down his contact list, he found Elijah's number and pressed the call button. After a few rings, Elijah picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey it's Takashi."

"Oh what's up TK? What are you up to?"

"Not much. I'm kinda bored at the moment."

"Oh that sucks, wanna come chill over here?"

"Sure, I'll be there soon."

"Alright, later."

Takashi put his phone in his pocket. Looks like he'll be spending the day with Elijah and Fina. Before leaving, he grabbed his wallet, just in case he needed any money. After scanning the room to see if he needed anything, Takashi decided his cell phone and wallet was enough and left to go meet up with Elijah and Fina.

**Tokonosu Police Department**

**Officer's Meeting**

Every police officer was present for an important briefing. Even officers who were not scheduled to show up today did so at the request of the chief. They all gathered at the parking garage where all the squad cars were parked. The chief scanned around, checking to see if his officers had their complete attention on him.

They did, it was time for him to speak.

"I'm sure some of you have heard stories about what happened last night. Well, those stories are the very reason why I want everyone to be out on patrol and be on high alert. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, I'll brief you on the details."

The chief paused for a few seconds before speaking up again.

"Last night, we had two of our officers attempt to apprehend someone for corporate espionage, however the suspect has died in a rather unusual and horrific manner. The suspect's chest exploded from the inside and some sort of creature emerged. That creature has since escaped into the sewer system, although it could be anywhere in the city. Dr. Satoshi Tohiro of the Weyland-Yutani Tokonosu Research Facility has asked us to locate, trap, and return the creature. Alive."

Officers looked at one another with mixed expressions of worry and interest. They heard stories of the gruesome demise from the two officers, but to look for the creature was something they weren't sure of accomplishing.

"According to our two officers, the creature is about the size of a snake. It's flesh colored, has no limbs, no eyes, and no ears. It does however have a mouth and teeth. Simply put, it's a creature we have never seen before. I'm sure you will know you have discovered it when you see it. While it may look small and harmless, I suggest you all wear thick and heavy gloves in case it's capable of biting. I also need a handful of volunteers to go underground and search the entire sewer system for the creature. Anyone up for the task?"

The chief looked around and noticed twelve of his officers raising their hands without hesitation. The chief nodded in approval.

"Very well, the doctor supplied us with cages that all of you will find in your squad car's trunk. If you suspect the creature is in a particular area, be sure to bring it with one more thing, if news reporters stop you for questioning in regards to the death of the suspect, you are not to comment. That is not just an order from me, but from the doctor. They're not too happy about the media already knowing about the suspect's death. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir!" The officers replied simultaneously.

"Good. Dismissed!"

_**12:20PM...**_

Takashi had his hands in his pockets as he was walking along the street. He was getting close to Elijah and Fina's house. Ever since leaving his home, he thought about how the events of tonight will unfold. He was beginning to feel a little nervous. He didn't understand why, he felt like he got along with everyone. Was it because he felt like he wouldn't be fun to hang out with? Or maybe it was because Rei and Hisashi would be there?

Takashi shook his head, thinking it would remove any negative thoughts. Tonight was meant to be a fun, care-free night with friends. He wanted to cut loose, and have fun.

Whatever happens, happens.

Takashi finally made it to Elijah and Fina's home. It was a nice, small house. For some unknown reason Takashi thought that Elijah and Fina would live in a gigantic mansion or a house built up to Western living standards, but this house was quite common to find in Japanese neighborhoods. The neighborhood they lived in was no different than where Takashi lived. Either they weren't picky on where they wanted to live or this house was the only option they had to live in. Either way, he was glad the distance wasn't very far.

Takashi made his way through the patio walkway and onto the front porch. As soon as he was at front of the door, he could faintly hear music coming from inside. Takashi rang the door bell. He again stuck his hands in his pockets soon after words, waiting for someone to open the door.

Takashi looked up and around him, somewhere he could hear birds and cicadas.

He turned his attention back to the front door as it began to open. It was Fina. She smiled kindly at his arrival, to which Takashi returned.

"Hey you made it! Come in." Fina stepped to the side to allow Takashi to space to enter.

As soon as he entered the home, Fina and Takashi both gave each other a quick hug.

"So what are you two up to?" Takashi asked while he knelt down to untie and set aside his shoes.

Fina shrugged. "Not much, we kinda stayed up late last night and watched a bunch of movies, we didn't go to bed until like four in the morning. When you called you woke us up. So sorry if we still look like crap."

Takashi noticed that Fina's hair was slightly messy, and she was still wearing sleepwear. Which were grey sweat pants and a white tank top.

"I woke you guys up? I'm sorry." Takashi replied.

Fina smiled. "No it's cool. We were actually happy you called otherwise we would've just slept most of the day. Anyways, come in. Make yourself at home."

Fina led Takashi into the living room, everything inside looked clean and modern. The walls, carpet floor, and ceiling were white. Close to the center of the living room was a coffee table with a glass top. There was a long, black leather couch positioned in front of the home theater system. On the coffee table were a few remotes and a couple Playstation 3 controllers were laid out. The home theater system was composed of a sixty two inch flat screen positioned on a slick looking stand, and two tall and slim speakers on both sides of the flat screen. Below the stand was a Playstation 3 console.

To the wall next to the flat screen were shelves filled with various Blu-ray and video game cases, a fairly large collection it seemed.

Elijah was sitting on the couch with his feet propped up on the coffee table. He too, was in sleepwear, red and black shorts and a white wife beater to be exact.

On the TV was some sort of music video, it wasn't from any music artist from Japan from the look and sound of it.

"Hey, Takashi's here." Fina said to Elijah.

Elijah turned around to see Fina and Takashi standing next to each other behind him.

"Hey what's up?" Elijah got up from the couch and patted Takashi on the arm.

"Not much, got nothing else to do until tonight." Takashi replied.

Elijah waved him over to the couch. The two friends sat next to each other. Elijah sat in the same position as he was before greeting Takashi. Takashi just slumped back and had one leg crossed over his knee and sighed from relaxation. He was relieved that it was cool inside, the temperature outside was quite hot.

Fina walked into the kitchen, persumably to get something to eat.

"So, anyways. I'm guessing you went to alot of these Kendo matches before, huh?" Elijah asked as he looked over to Takashi.

Takashi looked back and shook his head. "No, actually this is going to be my first time going to one."

Elijah looked somewhat surprised. "Really? How come?"

Takashi looked at the TV. "I just never saw a reason to go. Plus I don't know anyone who actually competes in Kendo. I'd figured it would be a waste of time."

Elijah nodded. "Makes sense. How do you feel about going tonight?"

Takashi tilted his head and thought for a second. "I'm actually looking forward to going. I guess it's because I'm going with a group."

Elijah smiled. "Well that makes two of us."

"Hey do you two want a smoothie?" Fina asked.

Takashi and Elijah both turned behind the couch to see Fina in the kitchen. On the counter was a blender and a few fruits and juices. They both nodded. Fina then mixed together the fruits and juices into the blender and began to blend.

The two friends then turned their attention back to the TV. Elijah leaned over to pick up the remote to change the channel as the music video ended and some lame song came on after.

"So what do you know about this Busujima girl?" Elijah asked while flipping through channels. He finally stopped at a channel that was broadcasting the news.

Takashi shrugged. "I don't know her personally, but she's quite calm and polite from what I hear. Alot of guys have a crush on her but they're too scared to go up and talk to her."

"Is she hot?" Elijah asked.

Takashi blushed a little and scratched the back of his head. But knowing that this is guy talk and boys will be boys, He decided to answer. "Personally, she's gorgeous."

Elijah nodded. "Cool cool. By the way, I got a question."

Takashi looked back at Elijah, somewhat curious to what he was going to ask him.

Before Elijah could say anything, Fina walked over to them and gave them each a glass filled with smoothie. It was pink in color and they both took a quick sip. The flavor was of various tropical fruits, the beverage itself was thick, yet creamy and frosty.

"Tastes good, thanks." Takashi said

Fina smiled and walked back into the kitchen to pour herself a glass.

"So anyways, I was wondering. How come you don't have a girlfriend?" Eljiah asked.

Takashi was caught off guard by that question. He took another drink of his smoothie, although this time it was much more of a chug rather than a sip.

"Um, it's a long story." Takashi muttered. He looked down at his glass that he was holding with his two hands. He could feel his heart sink into some slight emotional pain.

Elijah took a sip out of his own glass. "I got time, but if it's something you don't wanna get into, I'll understand."

Takashi looked up and thought for a minute. Elijah was his friend, a friend that wouldn't insult him, change the subject on him, or ditch him. Takashi then decided he would open up about his past.

"You know Rei, right?" Takashi asked as he turned to look at Elijah.

Elijah nodded in response.

Takashi took a deep breath and looked back down before explaining why he was single.

"When we were little, she made a promise to me that we would get married someday. I was so glad to have a friend like her. To be honest, she was my first ever friend. I didn't have any guy friends until I was seven. My most happiest moments were when I was a kid, and they were spending time with her."

Takashi looked back at Elijah, who devoted all his attention on him, completely ignoring the TV.

"As we got older, I knew those feelings were going to get even stronger, especially for Rei. But I fucked up, I don't know why, I just didn't act on those feelings. Maybe it's because I was scared I wouldn't be a good enough boyfriend for her, maybe it was because I couldn't find the right words to tell her how I felt. I don't know, I just fucked up."

Elijah was slightly surprised. He assumed Takashi and Rei were just good friends and nothing more.

"What really hurt me the most though, is that she eventually started to date Hisashi. It was like insult to injury when they started to go out."

Elijah felt sorrow for Takashi. He was single himself, but he could feel the pain for Takashi. "Did you hate him?" He asked.

"At first I did. I couldn't stand to see the two of them together. Aside from the few friends I have, I was mostly alone. I remember the day I saw them holding each other and kissing, I walked up to one of the school's rooftops and looked up to the sky. All of a sudden, I just broke down and cried. But it wasn't until recently that I couldn't hate him, it was my fault. I began to hate myself, I can't blame Hisashi for taking away my chance to be with Rei, that was my fault and mine alone." Takashi answered.

There was a pause between the two friends, the only noise was from the TV. Fina was nowhere to be seen, but down the hallway, there was the sound of water running. After finishing her smoothie, Fina went to go take a shower. She never got a chance to hear of Takashi's past, and there was no telling if she ever will.

"Y'know, I feel for you TK. I really do." Elijah said as he sipped on his smoothie.

Takashi sipped on his smoothie as well.

"I can understand your pain and if I was in your position, I'd probably cry and hate myself too. But you should be happy."

Takashi looked a little confused.

"Rei and Hisashi are your friends, really good friends from the looks of it. Sure, you can beat yourself up for not being with Rei, but you should be happy you know her. Your friendship with them can't be replaced by anyone else. It may take time, but you'll learn to appreciate having them as friends. Don't lose the time you have on this Earth distancing yourself from them, live your life with them, and they will live their lives with you."

Takashi smiled softly at Elijah's kind words.

Elijah laughed. "Also who knows, maybe some other girl will walk into your life and sweep you off your feet."

Takashi chuckled. "Doubt it."

The two friends finally finished drinking their smoothie and got up to put their glasses into the sink. They then sat back down and turned their attention to the TV once again. The news was still on, but the latest report was what caught their attention the most.

The broadcast was live, a young female news reporter was standing in front of a hospital where she was explaining the events that happened last afternoon.

"Yesterday afternoon at this hospital behind me, a most unusual death occurred. A young man by the name of Takumi Matoko was to be apprehended. According to first person accounts from eyewitnesses, he seemed to be in active and healthy condition as he was escorted outside by law enforcement. However, eyewitnesses claim that he collapsed and began to go into violent convulsions and his chest appeared to have erupted from inside. His reason for being admitted into the hospital is currently unknown and police, doctors and other employees refuse to comment."

Takashi and Elijah were somewhat stunned at this report. They both knew that it was normal for people to die in hospitals if nothing could be done, but in such a horrific way?

"Holy shit." Takashi whispered.

Although he couldn't see it, Elijah nodded in agreement.

"Hey what's going on?" Fina was finished with her shower and dressed in some jeans and a purple T-shirt that read 'San Romero Knights' around the chest. Her clothes fitted her body perfectly.

Elijah pointed at the TV. "Some dude just died when his chest bursted."

Fina looked at the TV. She wasn't in any dramatic shock, but the news did make her feel rather unpleasent. She had nothing to say about the news.

There was a brief silence amongst the three friends. Elijah noticed this and decided to speak up.

"Well, I guess it's my turn to take a shower." He got up from his spot on the couch.

"If you want, feel free to watch TV, or play a game, or if you want to go on the internet I can get you my laptop." He said to Takashi.

"Actually, yeah. Let me check a few things online." Takashi answered.

Elijah nodded and went down the hall to the bedroom, he then brought out his laptop a few seconds later.

The brand of the laptop wasn't any generic brand on the market. It was unique and custom designed. It was light to carry, black in color, and the keys would change in a wave of different colors when it was turned on. It was more advanced than anything that would come out of the market until at least a decade from now.

Elijah handed Takashi his laptop.

"I never seen something like this before." Takashi said as he studied the laptop.

"Yeah, it's a special one. I can do alot of things on there." Elijah replied.

Takashi looked at him with some interest. "Yeah? Like what?"

"I'll show you sometime. But anyways, I gotta get ready." Elijah then went back into the hallway and into the bathroom to take his shower.

Fina sat down next to Takashi, at the same spot where Elijah was sitting. She leaned over to reach for the remote on the coffee table and flipped through different channels. It only took a few seconds for the laptop to boot up. Using the touch pad, he scrolled over and clicked on the icon that would get him access to the internet. He wanted to check for any messages he might have received. The most recent one was from Saya:

**Komuro,**

**I thought it over. I'm going with you and the others to the kendo match. But if things get boring, I'm leaving.**

Takashi thought for a second. Just what were the others doing today?

_**Takagi Manor...**_

Saya was aimlessly walking through the hallways of her home. She was bored and lonely, and she hated it. Saya would check the time on her watch, counting down the minutes until everyone would meet up. She did actually mean it to Takashi that she would leave if things got boring, but she really hoped it would be a fun event that would last late into the night at least. She would rather be out with friends than stay home alone.

Thinking about it more, she never really had many friends. A small portion of her wished to be part of a group, but the genius in her felt she had no time for such things. Her teenage life was all about getting perfect grades, doing synchronized swimming, and being alone.

God, how she hated being alone. Maybe that's why she acts the way she does. Having almost no friends, she never had anyone to spill her emotions out, and instead kept them bottled up until she couldn't take it anymore and blow up at someone.

Saya stopped at the end of the hallway and looked out the window. She could see the entire view of her family's garden, and the city skyline beyond the gates. A few groundskeepers were trimming some bushes and trees to keep the garden looking perfect.

Saya sighed, she closed her eyes tightly. She wanted to think about tonight more than her current state of loneliness. She then remembered that Kohta was invited to come with everyone to the Kendo match tonight.

Kohta, what a weird kid. Although in the past she criticized and insulted his many flaws, she questioned herself many times as why did she even bother to even think about him?

"That fatass better not act weird tonight." She said to herself.

_**Kohta's room...**_

Kohta was in nothing but boxers. He stood in front of his open closet and was in deep thought as to what he should wear tonight, especially if Saya was going. He was both nervous and excited, he wanted to make a good impression.

He wanted to look presentable, but not as if he was dressing up to go on a date. Kohta randomly pulled out various clothes and laid them out on his bed.

"Hmmm, what to wear tonight." He said to himself.

Kohta tried on his first set of clothes. It was a set of jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and a trench coat. The clothes were all black. Kohta then turned towards the mirror.

"I think I'd scare Takagi in this."

How about an American Cowboy look? With a pair of brown Cowboy boots, levi jeans, a red sleeveless flannel shirt that was buttoned up, a belt with a rather big buckle that said 'Buck on this!', and a cowboy hat.

"God, I look like something off Brokeback Mountain."

Quickly removing his ridiculous attire, he tried on an even more absurd set of clothes. He had on sagging jeans, a blue basketball jersey that was an extra size larger than he would normally wear, and a red New Era cap that he positioned sideways.

"Yo Takagi, 'sup? You down to kick it with some homies tonight yo?"

Kohta was trying to look 'gangsta'. With his knees slightly bent and leaning back, he had his arms crossed with his fingers that were positioned in both the shocker gesture, and one that really didn't make any sense. He looked at himself before he started to cringe at how stupid he would look to everyone.

"Why did I say that? Why did I think THESE would make me look cool? And where did I get these clothes anyway?"

Kohta once again removed his clothes and sighed out of defeat. He had one final set of clothes to try on. It was a pair of Khaki pants and a red polo shirt. After trying on the clothes, he looked at the mirror once again. It was perfect, not too fancy, not too lame. Kohta decided that these clothes and a pair of white sneakers would be suitable for tonight.

_I really hope Takagi shows up. _He thought to himself.

_**Rei's bedroom...**_

Hisashi had errands to do for most of the day and it wouldn't be until the following afternoon that they would meet. So Rei spent the day to herself. She was on her bed, sitting up against the wall using her pillows as a headrest. Her window was open and every so often a nice, soft breeze would flow calmly into her room.

Rei was looking at a photo album to pass the time. It had various pictures of her and with friends she had made over the years. She smiled warmly as the photos brought back wonderful memories. However, her smile faded away as soon as she found a certain picture that made her feel nostalgic.

It was a picture of Takashi and her when they were about thirteen. The picture was taken at a summer festival at night and Takashi had a big smile on his face as he had his arm around her. Her head was resting on his shoulder as she smiled as well.

Those were happy times.

Rei began to feel upset, she loved Hisashi, but she missed spending some quality time with Takashi. Maybe Takashi was in a phase and grew out of it, maybe they were not meant to be. Deep down, Rei really missed him.

Rei looked out the window. Determined, starting tonight she would make things up to Takashi by spending more time with him. She would also explain to Hisashi why exactly she wanted to do this. Knowing him, he would understand.

Rei then set aside her photo album and went into the kitchen to get something to eat.

_**Rika's apartment...**_

Rika was out on the balcony, a lit cigar in one hand, and a cell phone held up against her ear in the other.

"Yeah...Got it...Well, If you're up for the task, I am too...Alright well let me know when they ask for us...Bye."

She was on the phone with her partner Tajima. He called Rika to inform her that the police department is currently searching for something on the loose that is property of Weyland-Yutani and that they may be called in to help. The two would receive more details when they arrived.

Rika found the request quite odd as this obviously wasn't an assignment for members of the Special Assault Team to take up, but according to Tajima, the facility across town demanded Tokonosu put all their resources into finding this thing.

Taking one more puff from her cigar, Rika smashed it onto an ashtray she placed on the edge of the balcony. She was wearing sweat pants and a navy blue T-shirt that proudly displayed the words 'Tokonosu Special Assault Team' around the chest. Rika turned around to head downstairs to see what her friend Shizuka was up to.

Shizuka was sitting on the living room couch, watching television. She was watching the report about the gruesome death yesterday afternoon and it left her feeling quite horrified. She had her hands cupped up against her mouth, and her eyes were wide open in shock.

"Nobody should die like that." Shizuka whispered to herself.

Not wanting to hear anymore, she leaned over to pick up the remote that was sitting on the coffee table and turned the TV off with it. Shizuka looked up to see Rika coming down the stairway.

"Who called?" Shizuka asked.

Rika sat down next to Shizuka and placed her arms behind her head. "It was my partner. I may be getting called in to look for something that belongs to that new facility across town." She replied.

Shizuka looked down at her lap, her hands were fidgeting. She still was a little bit shaken up from the news report. But she was reminded of something else that was happening tonight. "Oh, guess what?" She asked.

Rika looked over, still in her relaxed pose.

"I'm going to be at the school tonight for the Kendo tournament!" Shizuka excitedly answered as she clapped her hands.

Rika smiled. "That's cool, what are you doing there?"

Shizuka looked over to the front door to see her first aid kit hanging from a coat rack. "I'm going to be taking medical duties just in case someone gets hurt tonight. I'm not expecting any injuries, but you never know."

Shizuka had an idea pop up in her head. "Would you like to come?" She asked.

Rika thought for a moment, but shook her head. "I'd be down for it, but I might be called in at any second. Sorry."

"Oh." Shizuka looked down at her lap again, this time she had a frown on her face.

Rika thought of an idea herself. "Hey, how about this? Next weekend, we'll take a trip to the beach."

Shizuka's head shot up and she looked at Rika with an excited smile.

"You mean it?" She asked with great hope.

Rika smiled and winked at her. "Sure, I'm sure this assignment will be over by tomorrow night."

Shizuka extended her arms and leaned over to give Rika a hug, her large breasts suffocating Rika in the process.

_**Taiei Shopping Town...**_

Like any other weekend, the mall was filled with people. Everyone inside was walking about, shopping for various things, hanging out with friends, or simply browsing through stores. In the food court, two young women were sitting at a table enjoying their meal. One of them was Fujimi's greatest athlete: Saeko Busujima. The other young woman Saeko was sitting across from was someone nobody would expect to see her spend time with, it was her rival, Kasumi Kitagawa.

While Saeko was seen by many as humble and well-mannered, Kasumi was the opposite. She was considered by the students in her school to be rebellious and ill-tempered. She often got into fights with other girls and sometimes guys whenever they would cross her. When she first entered high school, Kasumi's parents had enough of her aggressive personality and decided she needed to be disciplined. She was given a choice: Move away to a rural part of the country to do farm work for a distant relative, or sign up for a sports team in her school in hopes it would turn her life around.

Kasumi reluctantly chose Kendo, it was a sport where she could release her anger. It was a couple years ago when both Saeko and Kasumi first dueled against each other, and to Saeko's surprise, Kasumi defeated her. It was that victory that Kasumi felt happiness and she became accepted by her peers.

At the same time, Saeko became motivated. She pushed herself beyond her limits to become an even better fighter. Whenever the two would duel, it would always end in one or the other winning, and it would be very rare to see a match between them end in a draw. In their first ever National Championship, Kasumi failed to make it in the finals, but decided to stay to watch Saeko fight and witness her victory.

Kasumi couldn't be able to explain it, but after the closing ceremony, she approached Saeko and congratulated her. Saeko was taken back by it considering Kasumi's background, but she thanked her.

They became friends ever since.

Kasumi had short hair that was a mixture of yellow and orange, almost as if her hair was on fire. Perhaps it was a symbol of how much of a hothead she was. Her eyes were yellow, whenever she looked at someone, it was as if she could make a person or object burst into flames. She had various piercings on her ears, nose, and lower lip. Her clothing gave her the image of a punk rocker.

Saeko on the other hand, dressed more presentably and looked more approachable. She had on tight fitting jeans, some light blue tennis shoes, a white T-shirt, and green sports jacket. The back of the jacket displayed the words 'Fujimi Kendo Team', and on the front Saeko's name was stitched on the left chest.

Last night the two made plans to get together for lunch and talk about various things, as long as it wasn't about tonight's match.

"So Saeko." Kasumi said as she took a sip of her soda bottle.

"Hmm?" Saeko looked at her as she took a bite of a piece of sushi.

"Y'know, graduation is coming up. I was wondering, how was the whole high school experience like for you? Like, were these the best years of your life? Or do you think you could've done things differently?" Kasumi asked.

Saeko thought about her question as she chewed on her food. She reflected on so many things that has happened to her.

"I feel very fortunate to have such a pleasant experience these past three years. It almost makes me wish it didn't end so soon. I'm proud of my team, we've been through alot. Even when there were times where the odds were against us, we pulled through. And I will miss them very much."

Saeko lowered her head slightly.

"But I'm also somewhat sad."

Kasumi tilted her head, she was curious to what Saeko would say next.

"As much as I love the time I had with my team, aside from you, I never had any friends. I do not regret devoting my time to Kendo and my education, I do however regret not finding a group of people to belong to. I would've liked to have been with people that would accept me as a person, to make me feel welcome, and to have made memories with. I lost an opportunity, and I am upset because of it."

Kasumi lowered her eyes.

"I never had friends either, you're actually the first friend I ever had."

Saeko looked up, her eyes slightly wide.

"We're eighteen, I'm sure even after we graduate and we go our separate ways we'll find a group of friends to belong to, especially since summer is not too far off." Kasumi said, her tone was optimistic.

Saeko smiled. "I would gladly like to find a group of friends this summer. And you're right, we are still young. There is still plenty of time, before we become old and cranky."

The two laughed, no matter what mood the two were in, they always found a way to make themselves laugh and feel happy again.

"I just do not know where to start." Saeko mentioned.

"Saeko, take a chance, be outgoing. Somewhere out there, there is a group of people who will welcome you with open arms. Whether you go out to find them or they will find you is a question you have to answer yourself."

Kasumi knew Saeko deserved a chance. She was beautiful, kind, caring, and loyal. Anyone who couldn't see that in her was an idiot.

The two finished their lunch and got up from their seats to discard their trays at a nearby trash bin. They turned to each other to say their goodbyes, as they had to prepare for tonight.

"You better make it to the finals, I've been training all year for this tournament!" Kasumi said with a mischievous smile on her face.

"I intend to." Saeko cooly replied.

The two rivals gave each other a light hug and they both turned and walked away in their opposite paths.

_**5:25PM...**_

This was it, the match everyone across the nation was talking about. Hundreds, if not thousands of people were lined up at the front of the main entrance of the school. Teenagers, parents, teachers, even people who had no involvement with the school came to attend. The event would be taking place inside the basketbal court, it was large enough to fill tens of thousands of spectators.

"Holy shit, this IS a big deal." Elijah said out loud. He decided on wearing black loose fitting jeans, a Subaru Rally Team USA polo shirt, and his Ken Block running shoes for tonight.

Takashi, Fina, and Elijah were standing next to each other as they looked at the line in front of them. Even Takashi was caught off guard by the number of people.

"Yeah, it really is." Takashi responded in awe.

The three decided to wait for the others before getting in line, hopefully they wouldn't take long to arrive.

Fina had her arms crossed, she seemed to be a little concerned. "Think we'll get any good seats?" She asked.

"I'm sure we will, they hold these matches in basketball courts and I definitely know it's big enough." Takashi answered.

The three friends turned around after they heard someone whistling behind them. It was Hisashi and Rei, they were holding hands as they walked towards them. Hisashi had on a black long sleeve shirt, some light blue jeans, and neatly polished black shoes. While Rei wore a light pink T-shirt, white pants and flip flops.

"Hey everyone." Hisashi said as he and Rei stopped in front of the others.

"Man, there's so many people here! I'm like, really surprised about this." Elijah pointed at the massive number of people.

"Yeah, everyone has been waiting all school year for this." Hisashi said.

"Hi Takashi." Rei smiled as she greeted herself.

Takashi gave Rei a little wave and smiled at her rather timidly.

Pulling up to the front entrance was once again the Rolls-Royce. It pulled into a stop just in front of the others, the driver got out from the car and walked back to open the door for Saya. He held out his hand for Saya to take as she got out.

"When will I be picking you up?" The driver asked.

"I'll call you whenever, and chances are you may have meet me someplace else." Saya answered. The driver nodded as he got back into the car and drove off.

Saya wore a silk white summer dress, she was carrying a rather expensive designer purse, and she wore white high heels that matched her dress.

"Well don't you look classy." Takashi joked.

"What were you expecting me to wear? My uniform?" Saya shot back.

Kohta was running towards the group, panting heavily. When he finally approached them, he leaned down, his hands on he knees as he was so exhausted. He looked up and saw Saya, he was stunned at how gorgeous she looked.

"Takagi, I tried waving you down. Didn't you see me?" He asked between breaths.

"Oh I saw you, but since you're so fat, you need some exercise." She answered.

Kohta was having a hard time gaining his breath, and he was sweating. Saya noticed this and rolled her eyes.

"Jesus, here. At least wipe away the sweat." Saya reached into her purse and handed Kohta a handkerchief.

Kohta patted and wiped away the sweat from his forehead and around his neck, he handed it back to Saya who looked at it with disgust.

"You keep it, I'm not touching that."

Kohta looked down at the handkerchief and blushed in embarrassment.

Saya turned towards the others and placed her hand on her hip. "So is this all we have planned for tonight? Just going to the tournament?" She asked.

"Well on the walk over here, Rei and I talked about how afterwords we should all go out to dinner. There's a place nearby we've always wanted to go to." Hisashi answered.

"Hmm, good enough I suppose." Saya said as she nodded in approval.

Everyone in the group then walked over to get in line with the other people who were waiting to enter inside the basketall stadium, the line was now moving as it was almost time for the event to get started.

Rei let go of Hisashi's hand. "Hey, you guys go on ahead. I want to talk to Takashi for a bit."

Takashi looked at Rei with surprise. Hisashi looked at her, then at Takashi for a second. He smiled and nodded. "Sure, we'll save a spot for you two." He said. The group then broke away from the two and walked into the gates.

Takashi stood in front of Rei, feeling a little bit awkward and nervous, he looked down. Rei looked at Takashi and blushed a little bit, this was the first time in quite awhile they had been alone together.

"Ok, Takashi? Um, I know ever since I dated Hisashi I never spent any time with you." Rei explained. She held her hands together, fingers interlocking.

Takashi nodded, not looking up.

"Listen, I feel guilty. It's like I've been ignoring you, you don't deserve that."

Takashi didn't answer.

"That's why, after tonight, I want us to start spending time together again."

Takashi looked up at Rei, her smile was genuine.

"You do?" He asked.

She nodded.

"Yes. I still love Hisashi and we'll be together for a long time, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten about our friendship. I want to make things up to you, as a friend." She said.

Takashi was stunned, he truly felt whatever was left between them would be gone and that he would be out of her life. But now with this desire to patch things up, he was hopeful, yet had doubt.

"What about Hisashi?" He asked.

"I'm going to talk to him about it later. But I'm sure he will understand and be okay with it." Rei answered. Her two index fingers were now twiddling.

"Would you want that? To become close friends again?"

Takashi looked at Rei, her eyes full of hope that he would want this as much as she did. If this was a confession that Rei wanted to be with Takashi as more than a friend, Takashi would've wrapped his arms around Rei's waist and kiss her passionately, admitting his true feelings for her. But it wasn't, this was about starting over, but as friends this time.

"If Hisashi is okay with it, I am too." He answered.

Rei's smile grew bigger this time, she walked over to Takashi and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. Takashi was taken back by this, but after a second, he slowly lifted his arms and wrapped them around her waist. Their bodies were pressed up against each other. He leaned his head downwards, her hair smelled of peaches. For a brief moment, they had forgotten about the others and where they were. Deep down inside, both Rei and Takashi actually felt for a moment that they were still in love with each other.

"Thank you, we'll make this work out." Rei whispered.

"I know we will." Takashi whispered back.

They slowly broke away from their embrace. Each staring into the other's eyes, there was a sign of newfound hope. They may have lost their chance at love, but they won't lose their chance at becoming good friends again.

The two looked over to see that the line of people were gone, everyone must have made it inside and found seats.

Rei looked back to Takashi. "Come on, let's go meet up with the others."

As expected, the basketball stadium was packed. Tens of thousands of people were sitting on the bleachers, chatter could be heard from all over the court. Reporters and camera crews were placed on different sides, the event would be broadcast both locally and nationally. On one end, there was a long table for judges to sit at, positioned in front of the center court where Kendo fighters would duel against one another. Next to the judges were volunteer medical staff, sitting in chairs next to one another. One of them was Shizuka, who was smiling and humming as she waited for the tournament to begin.

Saya, Kohta, Hisashi, Rei, Takashi, Elijah, and Fina sat in the highest row of the bleachers in that order. The view was perfect, they could see the the entire court.

"Man, I'm like really stoked now. I wish I was in this tournament." Elijah placed his hands together, imagining he was holding a sword as he swung his hands around, making noises as if his imaginary blade was cutting through the air. Takashi looked over and laughed, Fina rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Tell me which one is Saeko." Elijah said as he leaned over to Takashi.

Takashi nodded.

As everyone in the court had settled down and became silent, the principal of Fujimi walked into the center of the court, microphone in hand. Before the start of the tournament, he was going to give an opening speech.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you all to our school. It is an honor and a privilege to be hosting this year's National Championship. Tonight, the boys and girls across the nation gather to compete on the grandest stage for the title. I'm sure you all can agree with me that they have earned the right to compete. There are sixty four captains representing schools from all over Japan, but only one of them will leave tonight a Champion. I wish all of them the best of luck and may the best duelist win!"

The spectators applauded the principal for his speech, there were even some cheers. The group even clapped, this was definitely a night to remember. Entering from opposite corners, were the captains of the many Kendo fighters competing tonight. An announcer introduced the Captains by name and the school they represented. The fighters were walking in single file, all of them dressed up in their uniforms. Tor the boys, their uniforms were navy blue, the girls were in white. Strapped onto the fighters were the traditional, yet necessary armor to protect them.

Each captain marched in with their Men helmet in one hand, and a Shinai in the other.

The spectators clapped, some sections clapped louder when they saw a particular fighter arrive onto the court.

When Saeko arrived onto the court, all of Fujimi clapped loudly in praise of her efforts to make it this far. She showed no emotion, her demeanor was calm, yet determined. She looked forward, never looking around to see the people cheering for her and motivating her to win tonight.

"There! That's her." Takashi nudged Elijah and pointed at Saeko.

Elijah raised an eyebrow and whistled. "You're right, she's hot."

The two looked at each other and smiled. Boys will be boys.

The two rows of Captains stopped onto the court, and turned to face each other. They were about twenty feet across from one another. Politely, they bowed at the fighter across from them. Saeko noticed Kasumi was across from her and they couldn't help but smile.

The two rows then knelt down on opposites sides of the ring, the judges announced the names of first two fighters and the school they represent to start, neither of them were Saeko. As the two fighters stepped up to duel, the group of friends decided to talk to each other.

"So Rei and I noticed a brand new restaurant we should all try out." Hisashi said, leaning over for everyone to hear.

"Yeah? What's callled?" Takashi asked.

"Vortex." Hisashi answered.

"Is it that one place that's also a bar and arcade?" Fina asked with great interest.

"Yeah." Hisashi replied.

Fina and Elijah looked at each other with interest.

"We're down, ever since we moved here, we've always wanted to check that place out." Fina said.

Kohta was silent, he hadn't said much. But he was smiling. As much as he loved guns, he was a gamer at heart.

"You into gaming?" Elijah asked Kohta.

Kohta nodded. "Yep! Sure am. I love shooter games the most."

"What about you?" Elijah asked Takashi.

"Hell yeah, what guy doesn't love video games?" Takashi said with a nod as well.

Saya rolled her eyes, her arms were crossed.

"Aw c'mon Saya, it'll be fun. Geniuses can't have any fun?" Takashi joked.

Saya narrowed her eyes at him. "I can have fun, but video games? They're just so childish."

Elijah dramatically gasped. "What!? I find that offensive!" He joked as well.

Takashi and Elijah laughed with each other.

"Oh just pay attention to the tournament!" She snapped.

The next round involved Saeko. As she got up, she tightened and inspected her gear to make sure everything was secure and in place. Saeko walked into the ring, everyone was silent.

Her opponent was a young man, he seemed arrogant as it appeared he was staring Saeko down. She could see his cocky smile through his helmet. Outside, she ignored it. But inside, was the desire to defeat and humiliate him.

The three referees formed around the two in a triangular position. If Saeko scored a point, the judges would raise a white flag, if her opponet scored, the red one.

Saeko gripped the tsuka tightly, pointing the saki-gawa outwards. The young man did the same.

They were in position.

"BEGIN!"

Everyone had their eyes on Saeko, nobody would dare blink. She had such graceful agility, and her strikes were instantaneous. The opponent shifted to the left, he tried to strike at Saeko's side. However she managed to step away and quickly raised her Shinai to block the strike, doing it so effortlessly.

Saeko stepped forward, both her and her opponent's Shinai were touching and rubbing against one another. The opponent leaned forward, attempting to jab at her head. Saeko tilted her upper body, missing the jab by mere inches. Before the opponent could regain his balance, Saeko whacked her Shinai on top of his head.

All three referees raised their white flags, confirming Saeko scored. Everyone cheered at the result.

Saeko quickly skipped backwards to return to her side of the ring, shaking her Shinai above her head in pride.

"Holy shit, she's good." Takashi said to himself quietly.

It only took a total of three minutes for Saeko to defeat her first opponent. He posed no real threat to her chances at winning the National Championship. After removing her Men helmet, Saeko knelt back down on the side of the ring alongside the other Captains. She noticed her opponent hung his head in shame.

The next round up was Kasumi. Saeko wanted to take notice of this, to see how much Kasumi's skills have matured, and to study her movements.

It didn't take much effort for Kasumi to beat her opponent. What impressed Saeko was that the opponent she fought against was one of eight contenders expected to make it to the Finals, and Kasumi defeated that contender so easily.

Saeko clapped as everyone applauded for Kasumi's win. As Kasumi sat back down, she looked across to see Saeko. The two smiled at each other, they knew that they were going to be the only ones who will make it to the Finals.

Round after round, Saeko and Kasumi advanced, eliminating their opponents and increasing their chances of winning the title. The spectators cheered louder and louder everytime one of them won. People began taking sides, supporting one of the two. Some teenagers even placed bets on who would win tonight.

Takashi was drawn to Saeko. Undoubtedly, she was the most amazing fighter he had ever seen.

_**8:45PM...**_

The moment everyone was waiting for had arrived: The Finals.

As expected, it was going to be between Saeko Busujima and Kasumi Kitagawa.

"Dude, this is it! I'm so glad we came to this!" Elijah shook his fists in excitement. Takashi smiled, he was glad too. Even though they weren't competing, the two friends could feel the energy around them.

As the eliminated captains sat down to witness the Finals, they each had their own feelings about how they performed tonight. Some were ashamed, others were happy they even made it to the National Championship. But the one thing they had in common, was that they all felt disappointed that it wasn't them stepping up there to fight for the title.

For the last time, Saeko and Kasumi inspected their gear. As they made final adjustments and preperations, the two rivals tried their best to control their excitement. The title was within their grasp, losing was not an option for either of them.

Saeko slipped on her Men helmet, she took a deep breath as she turned around and walked into the ring. She was gripping her Shinai tightly, almost as if it could snap in her hands. Kasumi was just a few feet across from her as she too walked into the ring.

_It really has come down to this._ Saeko thought.

The three referees took their places around Saeko and Kasumi. Whoever could deliver the best two out of three scores in ten minutes would be the winner. There was silence all around them, almost making it possible for everyone to hear a needle drop onto the floor.

"BEGIN!"

There was no holding back. Kasumi charged at Saeko, she flung her Shinai from the left. Saeko instantly deflected it, she also took a few steps back. Saeko noticed Kasumi was giving all her strength, she couldn't help but feel a little devious.

The two began circling each other, looking at each other with razor sharp eyes.

Saeko stepped in, she saw an opening to strike underneath Kasumi's right ribcage. Kasumi backed and twirled around to Saeko's side, and jabbed at her back.

"POINT!"

The three referees raised their red flags, giving Kasumi the first score.

Everyone was in shock, some people even gasped. For the first time since the tournament started, back to back defending champion Saeko Busujima was struck.

"Oh shit!" Elijah exclaimed.

Saeko had no time to question how she allowed herself to become such a target. She quickly went back to her side of the ring.

"BEGIN!"

Saeko wasn't going to hold back this time. Again, she charged in, raising her Shinai in an attempt to hit Kasumi over the head with it.

Kasumi raised her Shinai just above her head and positioned it upwards in a slant, blocking Saeko's downwards swing. As soon as Saeko's Shinai bounced off Kasumi's, she bent her knees slightly, leaned in, and jabbed the tip of her Shinai into Kasumi's chest.

"POINT!"

The three referees raised white flags in favor of Saeko. People cheered in response.

"They're giving each other a run for their money it looks like." Elijah leaned over to Takashi.

"Yeah, no doubt." Takashi replied.

Saeko and Kasumi returned back into position.

"BEGIN!"

Both were cautious this time around. Time was almost up, the next person who would score would be declared the winner.

Saeko and Kasumi both quickly stepped up to each other and whacked their Shinai together, a loud cracking noise echoed across the court.

They leaned in forward, their masked faces just inches away. Saeko and Kasumi each began putting their weight and strength into their Shinai, in an attempt to push the other away and make one of them lose balance. The two Shinai were sliding and grinding against each other, they could feel each other's trembling from the physical effort as they struggled to keep their Shinai standing straight.

Both rivals began grinding their teeth, Saeko noticed that Kasumi was pushing her Shinai down. Another inch, and that would give Kasumi the chance to lean and and jab Saeko in the face. Noticing she was losing her strength, Saeko pushed herself away and stepped back.

Narrowing her eyes, Saeko noticed Kasumi's left eye was twitching and blinking rapidly. Sweat was dripping just above her eyelash, Saeko could use that to her advantage.

Stepping to the side, Saeko flung her Shinai out towards Kasumi's arm. As expected, Kasumi blocked it.

Saeko stepped back.

Saeko again stepped forward, positioning her Shinai slightly upwards. She took a quick swing for Kasumi's neck, which was blocked swiftly by Kasumi. Saeko pulled back her Shinai and focused on Kasumi's head.

Saeko begain swaying her Shinai left and right, Kasumi trailed the Shinai with her own. Saeko did this to test out Kasumi's eyesight. The sweat dripping from her eyelash was definitely affecting her coordination.

Saeko slashed away Kasumi's Shinai, just about when she was about to strike Kasumi's head using all her strength, Kasumi blocked it away and nearly lost balance from the brute swing.

Quickly recovering, Saeko spun around Kasumi until she stopped at Kasumi's left blind spot. Kasumi tried turning towards Saeko, but it was too late.

In a simple, soft jab. Saeko managed to hit Kasumi in the spot that would hurt her the most, physically and emotionally: Her heart.

"POINT!"

She did it.

Saeko made it three for three. She was this year's National Champion for the last time. Everyone erupted in applause.

Takashi leaned back, breathing a sigh of relief. As if it were him fighting out there. He was speechless and in awe of this beautiful warrior.

"Not bad." Fina crossed her arms and slowly nodded.

Elijah stood up and whistled loudly, clapping his hands. "Samurai girl sure has some skills."

Saeko removed her Men helmet and looked around, everyone was cheering for her. They cheered for her victory and as their way of saying farewell. Saeko was beginning to feel teary eyed. She cleared her through and put on a brave face, turning around and waving at everyone.

Saeko looked behind her shoulder to see Kasumi, kneeling down. Her Shinai dropped to one side, her Men helmet tossed a foot away on the other.

Kasumi's head was lowered, but Saeko could see tears rolling down her cheeks. Concerned, Saeko walked over to Kasumi and knelt down, putting her hand on Kasumi's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Saeko asked worriedly.

"I-I failed." Kasumi whispered, not looking up.

Saeko was puzzled.

"I wanted this so much, I trained so hard for this moment but I lost it." Kasumi covered her face as she sobbed in her hands.

Saeko gently pulled away Kasumi's hands and lifted her head up, making eye contact.

"Kasumi, you should be proud of yourself." Saeko kindly whispered.

Kasumi wiped away a tear.

"You defeated sixty two other captains to make it to the Final, but not only that, you are naturally gifted. I trained my entire life to become the fighter I am now. It took you almost three years, never before have I faced someone as challenging as you. It was an honor to duel against you, and if you continue to pursue Kendo, I truly believe you will be a force to be reckoned with." Saeko said with a smile.

Kasumi couldn't help but smile back and wiped away the rest of her tears.

The two stood up and wrapped their arms around each other, rocking back and forth softly. Everyone around them cheered even louder at Saeko's good sportsmanship-like behavior.

"I'm going to miss you so fucking much." Kasumi said into Saeko's ear.

Saeko chuckled and tried to fight back tears of her own. "The feeling is mutual."

Pulling away, Saeko grabbed Kasumi's wrist and raised her arm up in the air, along with her own. People who brought cameras decided to take quick snapshots of this warm moment between the two women.

As the podium celebration went underway, Saeko received a large golden trophy and a certificate from a representative from the National Kendo Committee. Kasumi received the same certificate, but a slightly smaller silver trophy.

The person who finished third in the semi-finals was a second year male student. Both Saeko and Kasumi were impressed by the boy's talent and wished him well in the future. The three stood close together as they posed for pictures on the top of the podium, holding up their trophies with pride.

The tournament was over, people got up from their seats and were scattered around the court, talking with one another about tonight's tournament.

"That was epic." Elijah said as he stretched his arms out.

"Yeah it was, it's sad that after this year she's graduating." Takashi said between stretches.

The others also got up from their seats to stretch, all of them were relieved to stand up after sitting down for such a long period. The group began walking down the court making their way through other people. It was too crowed to leave just yet because of the vast number of people, so everyone stood by the corner to wait until the area was much more clear to walk through.

Takashi noticed several feet away, there was a soda vending machine positioned up against the wall. He was feeling a little thirsty.

"Hey, I'm gonna get something to drink." Takashi said to Elijah.

Elijah looked at Takashi, then at the vending machine. "Actually, I'll come with you. I want something to drink too."

"We'll be back." Takashi told the others as he and Elijah walked towards the vending machine.

Takashi and Elijah both picked a bottle of Mountain Dew and leaned up against the wall to enjoy their refreshments. Out of the corner of his eye, Takashi noticed Saeko by herself, kneeling down to put some of her gear away in a duffle bag. Elijah spotted this and nudged Takashi.

"Talk to her." Elijah encouraged.

Takashi looked back at Elijah. "What? Me? She wouldn't be interested in talking to me."

"How do you know?" Elijah asked.

"We don't know each other." Takashi quietly said, looking down at his feet.

"Do you wanna know her?" Elijah asked.

Takashi blushed.

"Talk to her, ask her what she's doing tonight. Maybe something good will come of it." Elijah was nudging Takashi again.

Takashi thought about what would happen if he dared approach Saeko. He could picture himself walking up to her and introducing himself. Saeko would probably look at him with bloodshot eyes and demand to know why he was talking to her in a monstrous voice, and most likely cut off his head afterwords.

"I don't know." Takashi timidly said as he raised his bottle for another drink.

"Okay, I'll talk to her for you." Elijah casually answered.

Takashi coughed on his drink. Stunned, he tried to reach over to stop Elijah but he began to walk towards Saeko. Takashi began to panic and turned around, looking at the wall.

_Oh god, why is he doing this? She wouldn't want to talk to me. She's too popular and I'm just me. I hope she doesn't kill him. I_-

Takashi could feel a gentle tapping on his shoulder as he slowly turned around.

It was Saeko, she was still in her Kendo uniform but she had removed her armor. Takashi looked surprised and blushed at how close she was to him.

"Is your name Komuro?" Saeko asked with a polite smile.

Takashi nodded rapidly, he felt he was looking like an idiot to her at the moment.

"Uh yeah! Yeah it is." Takashi answered, his voice cracking. Takashi looked over Saeko's shoulder to see Elijah smiling and giving him two thumbs up.

"Hello." Saeko bowed her head. "Your friend mentioned that you wished to speak with me."

Takashi cleared his throat and straightened himself out. "Hi. Um, congratulations on winning the title."

It was obvious to Saeko that Takashi was acting very shy, he wasn't the first guy to act this way around her.

"Do I intimidate you?" Saeko asked, she titled her head to the side, looking curious as to why he was behaving this way.

Takashi slowly nodded.

"Please, don't be. I'm just a girl." Saeko wanted to give the poor boy some confidence.

As the others formed a circle and began to talk to one another, Rei looked over her shoulder to see Saeko and Takashi talking to each other. She was quite surprised as she never would expect to see those two talking.

"If I remember correctly, we were in the same group during Monday's field trip?" Saeko asked.

"Yeah, I think we were." Takashi answered, feeling a little more confident. He again looked over Saeko's shoulder to see Elijah mouthing the words "Do it!" to him.

Takashi was very hesitant, but Saeko did say not to be intimidated by her. And most likely Elijah would give him crap about it.

_Here goes nothing._ He thought.

"Say um, Ms. Busujima?" Takashi asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Ummm...What are you doing after this?" Takashi looked around, avoiding eye contact with Saeko.

Saeko raised an eyebrow. "May I ask why you wish to know that?"

Takashi held up his hands. "Well uhhhh...You see, my friends and I, wanted to come out to support you and we were planning on going out to eat afterwords and uhhh..." Takashi began stammering, being more nervous than ever.

"And he talked about how if you won tonight, he wanted to invite you to come with us to dinner, as a way of congratulating you." Elijah said as he placed his arm around Takashi's shoulder.

Takashi looked at Elijah, somewhat surprised. Looking back at Saeko, she was a little surprised herself and blushed slightly.

"Takashi Komuro here is a good guy, I've met him at the same field trip you were just talking about and we instantly became good friends. For a while, he's always wanted to try to get to know you. I'm sure our other friends would love it if you came with us." Elijah turned to look at the others.

Saeko looked past Takashi and Elijah to see their other friends.

Fina was standing, looking around her surroundings. Rei and Hisashi were holding hands, talking about something. Kohta was holding his stomach, as if he were hungry. Saya had her arms crossed, as she tapped her foot onto the floor.

Saeko noticed this was the same group that she was walking behind on the way home after school yesterday. She also remembered her desire to socialize with a group of friends, and how Kasumi said that she should be more outgoing.

Since it wasn't a school night, Saeko had two choices on how to spend it: Stay at home reading a book or watching TV, or take the chance on spending time with classmates she had never met before. Dispite being a year older, Saeko did find Takashi to be attractive so that was a bonus.

"I would like that." Saeko answered, smiling kindly.

Elijah and Takashi were surprised. "Really?" Takashi asked.

Saeko nodded. "But first I need to go home and get changed. Where will you and your friends be going for dinner?" She asked.

"Vortex." Takashi answered.

Saeko again raised an eyebrow. It wasn't the type of place she would see herself going to, but this was meant to be a night out with a group of teenagers, and she was still a teenager herself. She was willing to make an exception.

"You may go on ahead, I will meet you there." Saeko smiled as she bowed and walked off to get her duffle bag and head home.

"Well, looks like you're getting a chance to know her!" Elijah patted Takashi on the back.

Takashi was still surprised, never in a million years would he ever see himself hanging out with someone like Saeko.

"C'mon, let's go tell the others." Elijah and Takashi walked over to join with the rest of the group.

"So guess what?" Elijah said.

Everyone turned to face Elijah, but he pointed to Takashi, allowing him the chance to tell the others the news.

"Well, Ms. Busujima will be meeting up with us tonight for dinner." Takashi said.

Everyone nodded.

Looking around them, the court was beginning to look more open. It was time for them to leave and head out.

"By the way, what made you come up with that idea?" Takashi asked Elijah as they walked behind the group.

Elijah looked back at Takashi. "Honestly, I just pulled it outta my ass. Plus you seemed so into her when she was out there fighting. Not to mention, with what you told me about you and Rei, maybe this new girl is a good alternative."

_**9:36PM...**_

Outside was warm, yet the air felt fresh. Walking along the city streets, the group could see the buildings around them thanks to the bright lights from towering buildings, store windows and lamp posts. Once in a while, another pedestrian would walk past them. Sometimes they would see a few people wait at a bus stop.

While no one thought of it, there was an increase of police cars out on patrol.

The group had finally made it to Vortex. The structure was a multi-level establishment. The first two floors were composed of rows upon rows of the latest and greatest arcade game cabinets, nearly all of them filled with small groups of young people watching a gamer make a new high score, or two "rivals" racing against each other. Electric sounds and loud music playing in the background thundered all around, giving the atmosphere an energenic and youthful vibe. Adding a "hip" effect, there were black lights and smoke floating just above the ground.

The top floor was divided. The sounds of the various gameplay and music below gave off a faint echo above, not bothering anyone who wished to eat first before going down to play. One side was the restaurant, booths and tables were positioned along each other, giving space for people to walk through. Outside was a balcony, giving people who chose to eat outside a glimpse of the city.

As for the bar? Since nobody in the group was of age, they didn't bother to look at the drunken gathering of university students in there.

Everyone agreed to sit outside, as it was too warm and somewhat loud due to the other patrons to be able to converse with one another.

Their table was round, and placed next to a corner. Just above the entrance and walls were speakers that played much more calming music. A waitress in a trendy uniform came out to hand everyone some menus, Takashi asked for an extra one as he mentioned they were expecting another person to join their party.

While everyone sat around, sitting next to his left was Rei. An empty seat was open, suggesting that Saeko would sit there. Whether this was planned or just simple coincidence, he did not think much of it.

"Hey hey! She made it!" Elijah stood up from his seat to clap for Saeko, everyone else did the same as they were happy that Saeko had arrived. Kohta was relieved as his hunger was getting the best of him.

Saya nudged Kohta's stomach in annoyance once she heard it growl.

Takashi looked over his shoulder as he saw Saeko walking past the open doors, the light above her shining down, as if she made a grand entrance. He was slightly wide eyed and his mouth somewhat open, he had never seen her in normal clothes.

With her usual tennis shoes, Saeko had on skinny dark blue jeans, a white leather belt strapped around her waist, and a black V-neck short sleeve shirt that exposed a bit of cleavage. Takashi couldn't help but how the clothes, while not revealing, showed off her slender figure.

"Hello." She kindly said as she somewhat blushed from everyone's upbeat greeting.

"Will I be sitting here?" She asked Takashi as she stood behind the vacant seat next to him.

"Yes." He answered with a smile.

With Saeko's arrival, the group was starting to feel more complete. While she had a good way of not showing her true emotions openly, Saeko was a little nervous. It wasn't because of the people she was with, they were simply fellow classmates or friends of other friends. It was because of the impression she would leave on people when the night ended.

This was the first time where she would be spending a night out with normal teenagers, it was the first time for all of them.

Takashi handed Saeko the extra menu as everyone began to look at what they wanted to eat for dinner, Kohta didn't want to come off as a pig so he had to be careful on what he wanted to order.

A few minutes had passed until the waitress returned to take everyone's order, she retrieved the menus and returned a couple minutes later with various beverages of soda, juice, tea, and water that the group had each ordered for themselves to drink as they waited for their meals to be prepared.

"So Komuro, would you care to introduce me to your friends?" Saeko asked as she looked at him.

"Oh yeah, well first off I'll start you with the guy who came up to you first. That's Elijah Senna and his friend Fina Prost." Takashi motioned with his hand as they sat across from them.

"Hello." Saeko said with a nod.

Elijah and Fina nodded and waved.

"Next to me is Rei Miyamoto and her boyfriend Hisashi Igou."

Saeko leaned over Takashi slightly to wave at them, to which they returned. "You two participate in other clubs at school, don't you?" She asked.

They both nodded. "Yeah, I'm in Martial Arts and Miyamoto is in Sojutso." Hisashi answered.

"I must say you two are quite skilled, I'm quite impressed with your accomplishments." Saeko complemented, in an attempt to get along with everyone.

"Thank you." Rei replied with a smile.

Takashi leaned over and pointed at Saya and Kohta. "And those two are Saya Takagi and Kohta Hirano."

Kohta nodded as he placed his arms on the table, twiddling his thumbs.

Saya nudged Kohta again sharply. "It's rude to put your arms on the table! Anyways, hi." She said with a forceful smile, trying to ignore Kohta's pathetic whimpering.

Saeko smiled, trying to not to laugh at the two bickering.

"So anyways, just so you know, don't worry about paying for your meal tonight. That will be covered, you are the Champion after all." Elijah said between sips of his drink.

"Oh? Who will be paying?" Saeko asked as she looked around at everyone.

Takashi slowly raised his hand. "I suppose I will." He timidly answered.

Elijah was taken back by the response. "Really? 'Cuz I was thinking we could all pitch in. But if you wanna cover it, it's cool."

Takashi opened and closed his mouth, not knowing how to respond. He looked back to Saeko.

"I did bring some money for tonight, you don't have to pay for my meal if you don't want to." She told him.

Takashi shook his head. "No, I'd feel bad. You deserve this."

Saeko accepted his offer. "Thank you."

The waitress returned with everyone's ordered meals. As the group of friends ate, they talked with each other about the school year, amusing life experiences, and a few jokes. In such a short time, the camaraderie between everyone was growing stronger and stronger. Dispite everyone's social backgrounds and cultural differences, everyone felt like they belonged.

_**10:47PM...**_

Everyone was finished with their dinner, however nobody was willing to let the night end anytime soon. The waitress returned with a check for the group to pay for their meals. As everyone paid, Takashi kept his word and paid for Saeko's meal as well, she thanked him for it.

Everyone stood up from their seats and lined up behind the rail at the edge of the balcony, looking at the streets below. Every so often, vehicles would drive by in opposite directions, and pedestrians of all sorts would walk along the sidewalks.

"There sure is a lot of police cars out tonight." Kohta said as he noticed a small convoy of four police cars driving by.

Takashi noticed this himself. Before, he never really paid any attention to who or what was around him. But with Kohta's observation, he couldn't help but not notice.

"Does this city have a high crime rate?" Fina asked.

Rei shook her head. "No, a crime happens once in a while, but it's nothing serious like a mass murder or anything like that." She answered.

The police cars split from each other at an intersection.

Elijah rubbed his hands together excitedly. "So, who's up for some gaming?" He asked.

Kohta raised his hand, not noticing Saya rolling her eyes behind him. Rei and Hisashi wanted to try their hand at a fighting game so they also raised their hand. Takashi was wanting to play, but he had a different idea in mind.

"You guys can go on ahead, I'll be down there in a little bit." He said.

Everyone nodded and left the balcony to head downstairs. Takashi turned to Saeko, who looked at him curiously. "You don't wish to join your friends?" She asked.

Takashi scratched the back of his head. "Um, actually I was wanting to talk to you a bit more. If that's alright."

Saeko blushed. She never had a conversation with a boy outside of her Kendo team or a classmate on a group project for school. Since video games were not of her interest, she agreed to stay outside with him.

"That would be fine." She replied.

Downstairs, everyone split in groups. Elijah and Fina had "unfinished business" at a racing game. However, they didn't take it seriously as while they played they would bump their cars against each other, laughing as they tried to make each other lose control. In the end, they did not care who would win the race.

Rei and Hisashi were immersed in the virtual match they had against each other. Since Hisashi had experience in hand to hand combat, he won most of the time. However, he wanted to be a gentlemen and every so often he would hold back, letting Rei win a match once in a while.

This became a pattern for the couple.

Saya crossed her arms and looked around at the other people enjoying their time. Kohta was slightly behind her. Fidgeting with his fingers, he gathered the courage to talk to her.

"Um, Takagi?" He asked quietly.

Saya looked back, not moving herself to directly face him.

"Do you want to play a game?"

Saya looked around again, everyone else was having fun, why not her?

"Doesn't look like I have a choice. Alright, but I choose the game." She answered.

Kohta was happy, but didn't want to express it openly. Saya scanned the arcade, looking for any open cabinets. She finally found a dancing game and walked up to it, with Kohta following behind her. She picked this partly because Kohta needed some exercise, and plus dancing was something she could do somewhat. Kohta was nervous, he was hoping that Saya would want to play a shooting game, and he didn't have the stamina to dance rapidly. But he ignored that, in favor to make sure Saya was having fun.

"Would you like me to pay?" He asked, ready to pull out his wallet.

Saya unzipped her purse and pulled out a money clip, filled with bills. "This isn't a date, I can pay for myself." She answered, somewhat bitterly.

Kohta pulled his hand back, not bothering to take out his wallet. He didn't want to convince Saya that he should pay, as it would probably end up with her arguing with him and creating a scene.

As they stood on top of the dance pads, Saya put some money into the slot and pushed some buttons to select a song. While she would find it somewhat hilarious to see Kohta pass out from exhaustion, she decided to to pick out an easy song for him to dance to.

As the song began and the arrows crawled upwords on the screen, Saya had no problem stepping on the arrow pads below her in perfect timing. Kohta however, was clumsy and tried his best to keep up with Saya. Often stepping on the arrows too early or too late. Saya noticed this at the corner of her eye and laughed.

_So slow._ She thought.

Elijah and Fina finished playing their racing game, and out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a stacker machine. It was filled with various expensive prizes behind the glass casing.

"I wanna try this out." Elijah said as he pointed at the game. Fina looked at it for a second and followed Elijah as he walked towards the machine. Elijah leaned in to study what prize he wanted to win the most. MP3 players, smartphones, hand held gaming devices, and video game consoles.

However Elijah spotted one gift he had his eyes on the most.

Inserting some money into the slot, the machine came to life. A small row of squares shifted slowly across the lower bottom of the screen from right to left. He pressed the button to stop the row at the center. Another row appeared, and he again pressed the button to make the row stop on top of the one below it.

As the rows of squares became smaller and smaller and were successfully being stacked on top of one another, the speed of the game was picking up. Elijah put his patience and hand-eye coordination to the test. He was already past the minor prize point and was one row away from winning the major prize.

Following the final remaining square, in a split second he pressed the button for the last time just as the square stopped above the tower of square he created.

**WIN**

That one word flashed across the screen, lights flashing brightly.

Elijah shook his fist in victory and Fina clapped behind him, smiling. The machine dropped his winning prize. Elijah picked his prize up. It was a small box, on the sides and top the words 'SPY OPTICS' were displayed. Opening the box, he pulled out a small silk sack. As he opened the sack, he put his prize on his face.

"Sunglasses?" Fina asked, an eyebrow raised.

They were Ken Block Edition Murena sunglasses. Elijah looked at Fina and smiled. "Hey, summer is coming up. I gotta be prepared y'know."

Fina couldn't keep a straight face and laughed at her friend, jokingly pushing him. "C'mon, let's go play another game." She said as the two friends walked around, looking for a new challenge.

Back on the balcony, Takashi and Saeko were leaning over the rail enjoying the view. Takashi wanted to learn more about Saeko and why she wanted to do Kendo. She had explained to him it was "To keep a family tradition alive".

Saeko asked Takashi if he had any talents, all he was good at was playing the guitar. Physically, he wasn't very skilled in any sports, but always tried and had fun in the end, which he thought that was all that mattered.

Saeko didn't judge him, she still had respect for him.

"What time is it?" She asked.

Takashi pulled out his cell phone from his front pocket. "1:45AM." He answered.

"Oh my, it's rather late. I should be getting home." She explained.

Takashi yawned. "Yeah, good thing there's no school until Monday, huh?"

Saeko laughed and nodded.

"Come on, let's meet up with the others." He said as the two left the balcony.

After walking to the bottom floor, they noticed all the video game cabinets were turned off and everyone had left. Aside from a few employees cleaning up, they were the only ones there.

Takashi and Saeko spotted the others standing near the glass doors, waiting for them.

"You two didn't play any games?" Rei asked.

Takashi shook his head. "No, we just ended up talking about each other upstairs."

Rei looked at Saeko. She didn't feel threatened by her and had no reason not to like her. But if a friendship was developing between the two, it may get in the way of her own plans to start things over with Takashi.

Takashi looked at Elijah's new sunglasses and smiled. "You're wearing those at night?" He asked while chuckling.

"Hey, they're spiffy sunglasses. Besides, I can still see just fine." Elijah turned around and began to walk, however he bumped into a large glass window, thinking it was a door expecting to slide open for him.

Elijah rubbed his nose. "Maybe I'll wear these during the daytime." He said as he placed the sunglasses into the sack it came with.

"The place is closing in fifteen minutes, we might as well call it a night." Saya said, yawning afterwords.

Everyone nodded. Their energy had left them and all everyone wanted to do was sleep. The group of friends left the arcade and circled around each other just outside the building.

Looking behind her shoulder, Saya could see the Rolls-Royce pull up on the sidewalk. "I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting this night to last as long as it did, but I had fun. Even if a certain fatty had to take breaks EVERY - FIVE - MINUTES!" Saya exclaimed as she narrowed her eyes at Kohta, who was drinking a large water bottle he got from a vending machine.

"I'm sorry Takagi." He whimpered. Kohta broke away from the group and began to walk home. Saya saw this before entering the car. She didn't understand why, but she began to feel sorry for him.

"Hey Hirano?" She asked.

Kohta turned around. Saya motioned him to come along with her. "Get in, I'll have my driver drop you off at your place."

Kohta looked at Saya and the Rolls-Royce, he was very surprised.

"Get in before I change my mind! I'm very tired and I want to go to sleep soon!" She shouted.

"Yes! Right away!" Kohta ran into the car, joining Saya inside at the back. Before they left, Saya rolled down a window.

"See you guys Monday." She said as the Rolls-Royce drove off.

The remaining other six were still in their circle. Looking at each other.

"Well, I dunno about you guys, but we had a ton of fun tonight." Elijah said as he stretched his arms out. He and Fina looked at each other. "Guess we'll be heading home too, you guys have a good night. Nice meeting you Saeko." Fina said as she and Elijah waved at the others.

"Yes it was nice meeting you two." Saeko waved back.

"It was nice meeting all of you." She said as she turned around to face the others.

"Well, I guess I'll walk Rei back home. We'll see you at school." Hisashi said as he took Rei's hand. "Goodnight Komuro." Hisashi said as he patted Takashi's shoulder.

Saeko and Takashi were the only ones left. "So, would it be alright if I walked you home?" Takashi asked.

Saeko smiled. "I could use the company."

_**20 Minutes later...**_

The two were four blocks away from Saeko's home. Takashi had another half hour until he could finally make it to his house. As they walked next to each other closely, they both looked up at the starry filled night sky. The neighborhood was quiet, the lights in houses were turned off. No cars driving by and nobody outside to make any noise.

It was actually peaceful.

"I must say, I'm quite envious of you Komuro." Saeko said as she broke the silence.

"Me? Why?" He asked, looking at her.

Saeko looked back down. "You have wonderful friends, half of them you met recently. But already I can tell how close you all have become."

Takashi looked back up at the stars. She was right, he made new friends and was starting over with old ones as well. "You don't need to envy me. I'm sure you have friends that are just as great as they are." He said.

Saeko looked back at him. "Actually, I don't."

Takashi was taken back by her confession.

But Saeko started to smile. "But after tonight, I'm glad to have met someone who I can consider a friend."

Takashi looked away, hiding his blush from Saeko.

Saeko looked concerned. "Is that okay? For us to be friends?" She asked.

Takashi looked back at her, this time with a confident smile. "Sure, I'm just a little surprised. I just never thought I would be friends with someone like you."

Saeko chuckled. "I'm nothing special. Like I said; I'm just a girl."

The two laughed quietly to themselves.

Takashi and Saeko finally made it to her home, as they stopped they turned to face each other.

"So, see you at school?" Takashi asked.

Saeko nodded. "Yes, I'm often near the fountain at the courtyard before school starts."

"Alright, well have a good night." Takashi said as he turned around to walk home.

"Takashi?" Takashi turned around, surprised that Saeko had called him by his first name.

"You may call me by my first name. Good night." Saeko opened the gate to her home and walked along the driveway. Finally making to the front door, she entered inside her home, but not before waving at Takashi.

"Saeko..." Takashi said to himself quietly.

As he began to walk back home, Takashi began thinking about both Rei and Saeko. One girl was willing to go back to what they once were, in hopes it would bring them closer again. The other, a new girl. One who made him feel undeserving to know her, but lucky to have someone unique as her in his life.

_Maybe some other girl will walk into your life and sweep you off your feet._

Takashi remembered what Elijah said to him earlier. Takashi didn't believe anything past friendship would develop between him and Saeko, he was just fortunate enough to have met her and befriend her.

Yawning, Takashi quickened his pace to head back home. He would most likely sleep in late, but when he woke up, he planned to call up Morita and tell him how tonight went.

**Weyland-Yutani Tokonosu Research Facility**

A drunken Dr. Satoshi sat at his desk in his office. A bottle of whiskey sat not too far from him, a shot glass in one hand. Earlier, the Overseer had contacted him. He asked for Dr. Satoshi for weekly updates on the eggs.

Dr. Satoshi lied to him and said research was going well.

That was five hours ago.

After the death of Takumi, he did all he could to prevent the real reason for his death to go public. While successful, he knew he couldn't keep the lie up for very long. He prayed that the police would find that creature before anyone else would, and soon.

**WEYLAND-YUTANI DEBRIEFING - DR. SATOSHI TOHIRO**

**Had Satoshi Tohiro immediately contacted anyone of high authority within the company about the escaped Xenomorph specimens, he would've undoubtedly prevented his hometown to become contaminated and quarantined. Instead, he chose to lie to his overseer Dr. Lance Eisenberg about the recent theft of the specimens, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of civilians living in Tokonosu and neighboring towns and cities.**

**While it only took the Xenomorph outbreak to reach global catastrophic numbers in a 48-72 hour period, any city free of contamination would have been a great addition by becoming a 'GREEN SECTOR'**


	8. Close Encounters

I decided to do away with the whole bold, italic font for whenever time progresses and a location changes, it doesn't fit well with the story. I'll just simply go to a bold font.

By the way, the way the characters speak is based on the English dub. I have this weird policy, if I'm introduced to an anime by dub first, that's how I'll base their speaking ways.

Chapter 8: First Encounters

**SUNDAY, 10:30AM**

**Tokonosu Police Department**

The police chief sat at his office, a worried expression on his face as he looked down at the files of the twelve missing police officers who agreed to go down to the city's sewers to look for the missing creature on the loose. They had been missing since Saturday afternoon. While their squad cars had been found and intact, there were no traces of where the missing officers have gone off too. Other officers that had returned from their shifts updated the Chief that they had still not found the creature, but noticed that there was a smaller number of homeless people living at some of the parks and flood control channels around the city.

Not too long afterwords, families, fellow workers, and construction supervisors began contacting the police that a dozen or so underground maintenance workers began vanishing into the sewers, never to be seen again.

Hearing enough, the chief called off the search. He didn't care if the facility across town would be angered by the decision. If officers and innocent people were starting to disappear without a trace, he needed to turn his focus on that matter instead.

He was on the phone with the facility, in an attempt to reach Dr. Satoshi. However what puzzled him is that another supervisor had picked up the phone. He had explained to the Chief that Dr. Satoshi was removed of his supervisor duties at the facility and was escorted by company security to the airport, where he would face a corporate committee overseas about what had happened these past couple of days.

The chief hung up his phone and placed his hand on his forehead, ever since that creature went loose, there has been a dramatic turn of events. Picking up his phone once again, the chief contacted the Special Assault Team's headquarters to discuss the launch of a new investigation that may require their assistance.

**MONDAY, 7:05AM**

Takashi had a pleasant change of emotions that day. He was walking with Elijah, Fina, Rei, and Hisashi to school as they talked about the eventful night they all had together. Some habits didn't die though, Takashi was in deep thought. Rei had kept her word about wanting to start becoming friends again, she had dropped by at Takashi's house early in the morning and asked him if they would like to walk to school together and meet up with the others along the way.

He agreed, and the two walked side by side, meeting up with their friends fifteen minutes later.

Elijah was skating along the sidewalk, wearing his newly aquired Spy Ken Block Edition Murena sunglasses he had won that night. He decided on wearing a white T-shirt and some jeans. Fina watched Elijah grind on rails and benches and ollie over certain obstacles. She wore a polo shirt that had a pattern of blue and white stripes running across, and some darker blue skinny jeans.

As Takashi was happy that Rei had began to take notice of him again, he was beginning to think of Saeko. After only spending several hours together that night, she already called him by his first name and asked for the same in return.

He still was in disbelief that someone like her wanted to be friends with a simple, laidback guy with many flaws like himself.

"So did you and Ms. Busujima make it home alright?" Rei asked as he tugged on his sleeve, trying to make him snap out of his little trance.

"Uh? Oh yeah, no problem. We just walked and talked to each other on the way to her house." Takashi answered.

Rei looked down at the sidewalk. She began to feel jealous somewhat. Why? She's not with Takashi, she was with Hisashi. And not to mention, Takashi is single. If something were to happen where Saeko and Takashi ended up dating, she would lose Takashi altogether. Why was she even thinking about the possibility of them dating? Saeko is a third year, on the verge of graduating.

Rei was thinking too deep into this. She pushed away those thoughts, she had to remain hopeful.

Arriving at the gates of Fujimi, Elijah and Fina waved goodbye as they continued walking down the street to head to their own school.

The remaining four friends entered onto the courtyard. Takashi looked ahead, trying to look past the large number of students scattered around, socializing with one another. At the center of the courtyard near the fountain was Saeko, talking with two other girls in the same year as her.

"I'll be back." Takashi said as he jogged towards the fountain, not waiting to hear anyone say anything. Rei stood there, watching him approach Saeko.

"Saeko!" Takashi called out.

Saeko turned around to see Takashi heading towards her.

Saeko smiled. "Good morning."

"Hey." Takashi responded.

Saeko looked over at the two girls she was talking to, they were fellow teammates of her now former Kendo team. "Will you two please excuse us?" She asked.

The two girls nodded. "Sure." One of them said.

Saeko and Takashi then left the other two, walking their way through students to meet up with their other friends.

"Was that the boy she mentioned she was hanging out with after the tournament?" One girl asked.

"It must be. I wonder if he knows that she is starting to get a little interested in him." The other said.

Saeko and Takashi slowed down their pace as they passed by other students standing around the courtyard. "So did you sleep well after I walked you home?" Takashi asked.

Saeko nodded. "Yes I did, however I didn't wake up until one in the afternoon. I never stayed out that late before."

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect for us to be out that late." Takashi said, nearly bumping into a student.

"It's fine, I still had fun that night." Saeko kindly assured Takashi.

As the two finally made it to the others, Morita was running towards Takashi, waving to get his attention. As soon as Morita stopped, he noticed Takashi was with Saeko.

"Hey, Komuro. Can I talk to you for a bit?" Morita asked.

"Sure." Takashi replied as the two walked a short distance away from the others. Midway through their walk, Takashi noticed Saya arriving and they quickly said good morning to each other as they passed by.

Finally at a distance away from Takashi's friends, Morita stared at Saeko in disbelief. "Holy shit, dude! You're friends with her now?" Morita shouted as he wrapped his arm around Takashi's neck, shaking him.

"Ow! Yeah I guess it's starting to look that way." Takashi was acting very casual about it, he had no reason to brag about being friends with Saeko.

"Dude, you're fuckin' lucky! She's hot! You gonna hook up with her?" Morita slyly asked as he nudged Takashi's side.

Takashi chuckled as he pushed away Morita's elbow. "What? No, I just met her. Plus she's almost graduating. I probably won't be seeing her once school is over."

Morita was reminded of something. "What about that Miyamoto chick?" He asked.

Takashi looked back at the group. Rei was facing away from him. "We talked about wanting to start over. I was doubtful about it at first, but then I agreed. It feels a little weird talking to her and being around her again, but I'm really hoping that will go away soon. I really want this." He said, looking at Rei as she smiled and laughed with the others.

Morita had a change of attitude. There was something he wanted to tell him. "So, I need to tell you what happened during the weekend." He asked.

Takashi looked back at Morita. "what happened?" He asked.

Morita closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he appeared to look worried. "Imamura is gone."

Takashi stepped back in surprise. "What? Are you serious?" He asked loudly. However he had to control his tone, as surrounding students looked towards the two due to Takashi's sudden outburst.

Morita nodded his head. "Yeah, yesterday afternoon. What happened was that he was drinking at a park with some friends. He tried to reach in his pocket for his cigarettes but he dropped them and they fell into a sewer drain. Since he was so fuckin' wasted he had the dumb idea of climbing in there to get them out. One of his friends got out a cell phone and began to film the whole thing. He started to scream for help. Like REALLY fuckin' screaming as if he was being attacked or kidnapped or some shit. Not too long after that, he stopped screaming and he didn't climb back out. Imamura's friends went to get help, but they got arrested for being drunk in public. It wasn't until they sobered up that they finally showed the cops what happened with the phone."

Takashi stared down at the ground in disbelief. "How'd you find out about this?"

"I tried calling his house sometime around nine thirty-ish. His mom picked up and when I asked to talk to him she started to cry, saying that he had gone missing from the sewers. Police dropped by at her place an hour before I called explaining the whole situation to Imamura's parents. There's a search for him going on right now." Morita explained, he was normally a happy-go-lucky guy, but seeing him worried made Takashi feel a little disturbed.

"Shit..." Takashi muttered, shaking his head in disbelief. Takashi wasn't really good friends with Imamura, but he was a somewhat cool guy to talk to.

Morita nodded. "Yeah, no kidding."

"Hi Komuro!" Kohta said as walked by Takashi when he showed up onto the school's courtyard.

Takashi cleared his throat and forcefully smiled. "Hey Hirano."

Morita looked at Kohta, then at Takashi. "What was that all about?" He asked.

"Oh, he hung out with us Saturday night." Takashi answered.

"How's he like?" Morita asked, looking back at Kohta as he approached Takashi's group of friends.

"He's a little quiet, but he's a pretty cool guy." Takashi explained, also watching Kohta.

Morita nodded. "That's cool I guess. But hey, I just thought that you should know what happened last night. I don't think he's dead, but you never know."

Takashi nodded. "Yeah, let's hope he's not."

The two friends turned back to meet back with the others. After briefly introducing Morita to Saeko, Takashi stood silent. He mentally blocked out everyone around him as he thought deeply about the disappearance of Imamura. While he didn't notice it, the others glanced at him, wondering why Takashi was being so quiet. Some have shrugged it off as he was just spacing out as usual, but only a couple noticed something was bothering him.

Even during class, Takashi didn't pay attention to the teacher's lecture. He sat at his desk, staring blankly down at the pencil and papers for an assignment he should be doing. But even at the risk of failing his class, Takashi just didn't care.

"Kumuro!"

Takashi looked up, his classmates and some of his friends all stared at him. The teacher was looking back at him, his arms crossed and annoyed.

"Kumuro, I'm getting tired of your inability to pay attention in class. This is your last warning, pay attention to today's subject, or go to the office!" His teacher sternly shouted.

Takashi slowly picked up his pencil and looked down at the assignment papers, trying his best to focus on the paperwork. "Yes sir, I'm sorry." He muttered.

**12:00AM**

During lunch, Shizuka sat in her office. She was looking out the window with her chin resting on her hands, lost in thought as she watched the petals from the cherry blossom trees flutter down from their branches. She was upset that plans for her and Rika to go to the beach for the weekend were unexpectedly called off.

According to Rika, the Special Assault Team were assigned to a mission and it could last well into the week.

"I hate her stupid missions!" Shizuka pouted as she pounded her fist onto her desk. Shizuka winced in pain soon afterwords as her hand wasn't used to such aggressive actions. Still, Rika was a loyal friend of hers for so many years. They may have different professions, but it never strained the close friendship the two had.

Looking behind her, Shizuka saw the clock hanging from the wall near her door. Rika mentioned to her before they left for work that her assignment would be starting in half an hour.

**12:30AM, Southern Tokonosu**

Dozens of armored vehicles and police cars were scattered in a dried up flood control channel. A thousand feet away, police had set up a barrier around the restricted perimeter to avoid any wandering pedestrians or reporters to go near.

Just outside a large sewage drain, a squad of thirty Special Assault Team troopers were gearing up and loading their weapons. The person who would lead the southern squad was Rika. In various ends of the city, the same preperations were happening all at once.

The mission was to send squads from different directions into the sewers to locate the missing people. They would cover all the tunnels underneath in hopes to find those who were missing and possibly discover the cause for their disappearance.

Dressed in full tactical gear, Rika sat at the open end of an armored truck as she began to load and attach a tactical light, an eotech holographic scope, and a new device meant to be attached to the side opposite of the ejector on her M4A1 Carbine Assault Rifle.

Her partner Tajima, fully armed and armored walked up to her. His Heckler & Koch MP5 slung around his shoulder.

"So, think these poor saps are alive or dead in there?" He asked, looking into the pitch black sewage drain.

"Either way, something's fucked up. We need to know what the hell's been happening these past couple of days." Rika answered while she holstered her SIG Sauer P22G sidearm.

Tajima looked at the device that was attached to both his and Rika's assault rifles. "Think these motion trackers will help?" He asked while he flipped open the attachment.

The motion tracker was a small, portable screen. When open, it would display a half circular grid. A scanline would scroll outwards across the screen in a 180 degree radius, emitting a clicking noise every second. Tajima turned around as behind him and Rika were their other squadmates running about, finalizing their preperations.

Looking back down, Tajima noticed the motion tracker displaying dozens of light blue circular shapes as the scanline detected their squad's movements. A pinging noise would sound, confirming that the motion tracker has detected movement. The closer the motion tracker detected movement, the higher the pitch that the ping would emit. At the bottom center, a red two digit number would inform the user how close the movement is to them.

Rika raised her rifle to look at her motion tracker. "They better. My biggest gripe is that they can't detect shit behind me."

"That's why you got me covering your ass." Tajima smiled.

Rika chuckled. "Yeah, let's go get this started."

Rika closed the back door of the armored track as she and Tajima walked over to gather their team together. Behind her, Tajima glanced down at Rika's rear end. Even in full tactical assault gear, Rika managed to make it look sexy.

Tajima whistled sharply to call for the squad to get in formation. The squad immediately lined up, fully geared and weapons ready. He and Rika stood several feet in front of them. "Whenever you're ready." Tajima whispered.

Rika stepped forward. "Alright everyone, listen up! This past weekend people have been disappearing and with recent footage taken from a cell phone, the Tokonosu Police Chief has reason to believe that they have gone underground. Our mission today is simple; to go into the sewage system and locate the missing civilians. It should also be noted that there may be some sort of animal in there that could be potentially dangerous and may or may not be involved with these disappearances."

The squad looked at one another. Of all the tasks they've done over the years, they never were assigned to put down an animal.

"According to the chief, this thing is about the size of a snake. No eyes or ears, just a mouth. If you find it, kill it. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am!" The team answered.

Rika and Tajima looked at each other and nodded. "Remember, other squads will be entering from various parts of the city. We may end up meeting them at the very center. Let's go, Double file now!" Rika ordered.

Rika and Tajima turned to face the sewage drain. Half the squad lined up behind Rika, the other half behind Tajima. Soon afterwords, the squad walked into the drain and began their seach.

Minutes later, the natural light coming from outside the drainage opening was no longer revealing the tunnels as the squad traversed their way through. Rika and Tajima turned on the tactical lights on their weapons, lighting up only a portion of their surroundings while everything their lights didn't touch was pitch back.

Inside the sewage walkways the air was hot, a horrendous stench filled the nostrils of the squad, but they soon ignored it. The concrete walls and the pipe ceilings while tall and wide enough for the sqaud move somewhat freely, felt constricted at the same time. Faintly echoing were the tiny sounds of dripping water that would come from the pipes above and land on the ground, forming small puddles.

"You got good feed chief?" Rika asked through her headset.

At the police station, the chief and a dozen other officers and staff members gathered at the station's control and communications office. They focused their attention to a large monitor that covered the wall. The monitor displayed the entire layout of the city's sewage system. The squads were shown in blue dots grouped together as they moved deeper and deeper into the sewers. At opposite ends of the monitor were smaller screens, they showed a live audio and video feed of the walkway tunnels by an optical fiber camera attached to the wearer's headset worn by the sqaud leaders. The video feed displayed the squad leader's first inital and last name, along with the current mission time.

"The feed is perfect, almost as if we can see everything through your eyes." The chief answered through his headset. He had contact to all the squad leaders inside the sewers from the station. He repeated this as other squad leaders asked if he could see and hear what they could.

Rika held up her M4 and flipped open her motion tracker. The scanline detected no sort of movement ahead or around her on the grid. The flash of the scanline would illuminate Rika's face in a blue hue.

"This place is a maze, when we encounter multiple tunnels, we'll split into different groups." Rika said as she looked towards Tajima.

Tajima nodded.

As Rika and her squad progressed through, there was no sign of life. However they had alot of ground to cover before they would discover the fates of the missing people and the so-called potentially dangerous animal.

**MISSION TIME: 2:07:45**

The afternoon had started and the squads had still found no traces of anyone in the sewers.

Rika and Tajima had split paths in hopes of increasing their chances to find anyone but they had either came across more tunnel walkways, dead ends, or other squads. When the two groups reunited, Rika told Tajima to head to the back of the squad and watch for movement in the rear with his motion tracker.

"Shit, if we can't fuckin' find anyone in the next hour we might as well call it quits." Tajima said to himself.

Tajima's motion tracker began to make noise. The scanline detected movement. The ping was faint. A single circular shape was coming towards him on the upper rightside of the screen.

"Movement!" Tajima shouted.

Rika looked back and leaned over to the side to look past her squad.

"Where?" She asked.

Tajima looked down at his motion tracker. The shape was coming closer and closer to the lower center of the screen, the sound of the pinging was slowly becoming more high pitched.

"Twenty meters ahead of me. It's coming from the right side of those intersecting tunnels we just passed." Tajima said as he followed the movement of the lone shape.

As soon as he finished speaking. The shape vanished, as if it stopped moving.

"Whatever it was, it stopped moving." Tajima called out.

Rika and her squad had stayed in position, waiting to see if the movement was a person or something entirely different that would approach them.

Tajima devoted his complete attention to the motion tracker. The scanline didn't detect any movement for several seconds. Suddenly, the shape returned onto the screen. This time however, it was moving away, the pinging began to sound faint as the shape moved back.

"What the fuck?" Tajima said quietly.

Rika ran past her squad to meet up with Tajima. "What's happening?" She asked.

Tajima held up his MP5 to show Rika what was happening on his motion tracker.

"It's moving away from us." Tajima answered.

The shape had then vanished away from the screen, beyond the distance the motion tracker could be able to detect.

Rika pointed her M4 up ahead, the tactical light exposed a desolate walkway of concrete walls and pipes.

"Go back to that intersection and check out the rightside tunnel." Rika ordered.

Tajima nodded and jogged his way back, hitting puddles of water along the way. Slowing his pace, he raised his rifle slightly. If it was that thing they needed to kill, he was ready. Tajima was nearing the corner of the tunnel, he turned the safety off on his MP5, the tactical light showing his surroundings ahead bright as day.

Turning into the tunnel, he pointed his weapon. Eyes on the iron sight, ready to shoot if needed.

Nothing.

Tajima shined his light around the walls and ceiling of the tunnel. When pointing the light directly in front of him, there was only just emptiness ahead.

"Hello?" He called out. The echo of his voice trailed down the tunnel.

No response.

"Shit." Tajima muttered as he turned around to head back to Rika and her squad.

"Anything?" Rika asked as Tajima walked closer to her.

Tajima shook his head. "Nothing. Must have been a rat or something."

Rika thought for a second. Ever since they went into the sewers, she didn't see any rats. While it wasn't anything significant, it did make her feel suspicous.

"Let's keep going, we still have a long ways ahead of us. Watch my six if you detect anything." Rika said as she jogged up front to lead her squad forward.

**MISSION TIME: 2:53:15**

"What the fuck?" Rika whispered.

Up ahead, Rika noticed something covering all around the tunnel.

The tunnel was started to become covered in an organic, but unsual looking material. It almost looked like it was a secreted resin. Her squadmates peered forward as she moved her light around to look at the secretion.

Back at the police station, the chief looked at the various screens and discovered that all the squad leaders have encountered the same secretion covering the tunnels. The others behind him stared in shock and whispered to each other. Placing the speaker up to his mouth, the chief had to speak to the squad leaders.

"Everyone, I know you're thinking what I'm thinking. And to be honest, I don't know what that stuff is. But you must proceed onwards, we need to find these people. But stay alert, whatever that stuff is, it doesn't appear to be natural." The chief ordered.

Rika and her squad walked forwards, weapons raised and ready. The further they walked, the more of the secretion there was. It started to appear as if they weren't even in the sewers anymore.

Minutes later, Rika and her squad encounted three different intersecting tunnels. She turned around to face her squad. "Okay, split by three's. Tajima, Take the far right. Shinkawa, the middle. I'll take the far left." She ordered.

Tajima and Shinkawa nodded, they gathered their squadmates and entered into the seperate tunnels. "We'll radio you if we find anything." Tajima called out to Rika.

Rika turned to her remaining ten squadmates. "Let's go." She said.

Whether it was the secretion or the fact they were deep inside the sewers, the temperature inside made it feel like they were in the tropics. Rika raised her gloved hand to wipe away the sweat from her forehead.

Once in a while, she would turn on her motion tracker in hopes to find any movement. However, there was nothing to be discovered.

As soon as she lifted her head up from looking at the motion tracker, Rika froze up in shock. Raising her M4, the tactical light revealed an extremely horrific sight. A human body was hanging on one of the walls, the secretion holding him up. The body was that of a middle aged man, in a orange maintenance jumpsuit. The man was obviously dead, there was a large hole in his chest. The bones from his ribcage were broken and pointed outwards, the exposed muscles inside and the man's skin were rotting.

Pointing the light down, Rika noticed a large leathery object and a dead spider-like creature with a tail at the end of it and lung pouches on the side.

"Is that a fucking egg?" Rika said to herself as she moved her light from the dead organism to the egg. The four petals from the egg were opened outwards.

Looking back at the dead man, Rika shook her head. "Jesus christ. What the fuck is happening here?" She asked.

After hesitating for nearly a minute, Rika had to continue forward. She turned back to face her ten squadmates.

"You guys got two choices. Follow me or be a coward and head back to the surface." She said, looking at her squad.

"Wherever you go, we'll follow." One of the squadmates responded.

Rika and her squad continued to push on forward. She contacted Tajima and Shinkawa from her headset to inform them that she found a dead body, an egg, and an organism. Both men and their squads had also encountered similar things Rika had seen.

It wasn't too long until Rika had discovered more dead bodies of people, those weird looking creatures, and eggs. Rika was losing hope in finding anyone alive, she was about to contact the chief to recommend ending the search. But suddenly, she heard someone crying.

Rika looked up and ran forwards, her squad following close behind. Turning into an intersecting tunnel to the left, Rika discovered a teenage boy hanging on the wall, also covered in the secretion. While she didn't know this boy was, Imamura knew this wasn't the time or place to introduce himself to Rika.

"Oh god, please help me. There's monsters in here." Imamura whimpered as tears were rolling down his cheeks.

Rika stepped up and pulled away the slime and resin that held up Imamura.

"Don't worry, kid. We'll get you out of here." Rika replied, she was relieved that she found a living person.

Two other squadmates went up help Rika tear away the resin. One squadmate looked around, pointing his light ahead. He saw another person that appeared to be alive, however something was attached to the person's face. Walking up, the squadmate got a better look. The thing on his face was the same organism they had seen cluttering the ground, but this one was alive. The squadmate reached out to see if he could remove it, however the tail tightened its grip around the person's neck. The squadmate hesitated, but pulled his hand back.

"We got another one." He called out to Rika.

"Ok, we almost got this boy out." Rika called back.

Imamura arched his back and began to moan in pain. Rika stepped back in surprise.

Imamura started to scream in agony, the bones in his ribcage were breaking. Imamura began squirming and wiggling.

Pushing his chest outwards for the last time, a burst of blood covered Rika's face and upper body. Wiping the blood from her face, Rika saw something break its way out of Imamura's chest, killing him in the process. A snake-like creature emerged, screeching as it hung out of Imamura's chest.

"JESUS CHRIST! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?" Rika shouted, pointing her M4 at whatever this thing was.

Imamura's head was hanging down as his body held up on the wall was now lifeless. The snake looking creature squirmed its way through Imamura's lungs and ribcage as it looked around dispite having no eyes for it to see.

The creature jumped out of Imamura's chest, reaching towards Rika.

Without hesitation, Rika pulled the trigger on her M4 and fired at the snake looking creature. The shot echoed across the tunnels.

"Movement!" Tajima said through Rika's earpiece.

Rika pressed her earpiece with her finger. "Did you find anyone?" She asked, looking around.

"Fuck, they're all dead! You may wanna turn on your motion tracker!" Tajima shouted.

Looking down, Rika flipped open the motion tracker. The scanline detected dozens of circular shapes coming from all sides of the grid.

Looking back, Rika's squadmates had their weapons raised and tactical lights on. Rika sensed danger was approaching, it was time to leave.

"Guys, it's time to fucking fall back." Rika ordered to both her squad and to Tajima and Shinkawa.

Looking back down, the shapes on the screen started to get closer and closer, the pinging started to sound higher and higher.

"What's in here!?" A squadmate yelled, his back pressed against a secreted wall.

The squadmate felt the wall wiggle and move. Turning around, the squadmate raised his light to see what was happening behind him. Coming out from the wall were a set of claws, the squadmate attempted to raise his weapon. However, the claws grabbed him and pulled him away.

"HELP! HELP!" The squadmate screamed out.

Rika and the others turned around to see one of their men being dragged away. Their lights caught a glimpse of a large black, insect looking being. It and their squadmate vanished into the secretion within seconds.

"Holy shit! What was that?" Someone in the squad yelled.

Rika turned back around, her motion tracked detected movement just ahead of her. Raising her rifle, Rika's eyes could not believe what they were seeing.

A couple dozen of those exact creatures were walking and crawling their way towards Rika and her squad, climbing on the walls and ceiling as they approached Rika slowly. These must have been those monsters that Imamura was saying.

"FALL BACK!" Rika yelled out as she opened fire on these monsters.

The monsters charged and pounced forward, Rika shot one running towards her on its two hind legs. It screamed in pain as the rounds from Rika's M4 penetrated its hardened, black exoskeleton skin. Two of Rika's squadmates lined up next to her and began to open fire, allowing their other squadmates to get away.

But it was in vain, as three of them were captured by these monsters and carried away.

One of the squadmates was grabbed by another monster, it towered over him as its claws grabbed the squadmate's sides. The monster's face was just a couple inches in front of the squadmate, its mouth opened, exposing its razor sharp teeth. Another smaller mouth slid out, also exposing similar teeth. The squadmate raised his weapon and opened fire at the monster to kill it, however it would prove to be a fatal mistake as the monster's blood splattered all over the squadmate's chest. Melting away his armor and skin, exposing his now liquefying bones and internal organs.

The monster collapsed onto the dying squadmate, as more of its corrosive blood started to pour onto him, melting his torso away until there was nothing left but blood and liquiefied skin. The squadmate's bloody entrails were exposed from what was left of the squadmate's waist that had now been seperated from the rest of his body, or rather what little there was of it.

Rika and her remaining six squadmates continued running back, turning around to fire at these monster's that kept following. One squadmate tripped over an egg, he tried to pick himself up but one of the monsters had grabbed his ankles and dragged him away into the darkness.

Back at the police station, the chief and his staff looked at the monitors in horror. He couldn't make out what was attacking these squads, but was able to get glimpses of them from the flashes coming from the muzzles of their assault rifles. A couple of screens displayed static images, suggesting that either they had lost video feed, or they had succumbed to these things.

"Everyone, if you can hear me, find the nearest manhole and CLIMB OUT!" The chief yelled in hopes the remaining squads could hear him.

Rika made it back to the intersecting tunnel entrances where she, Tajima, and Shinkawa had split. Tajima and Shinkawa were the only ones that made it out alive. Looking to the side, Rika had discovered steel ladder steps that had been attached onto the concrete wall, up above them was a manhole that would lead to their escape.

"Climb up!" Rika ordered as she, Tajima, and Shinkawa held their ground to open fire upon the horde of monsters coming out from the three entrances of the intersecting tunnels, allowing the remaining squad to escape to the surface.

One by one, Rika's remaining squad had climbed up to the city streets. The first squadmate nearly had his head taken off as a car coming towards him made a sudden stop, the bumper touching his face.

"Ladies first." Tajima said as he shot another monster.

Rika slung her M4 and quickly climbed up to the city. Her eyes had to adjust from the bright sunlight. Looking around her, traffic had stopped and a large crowd of onlookers looked at the exhausted and terrified squad from the sidewalks and front building windows.

"Everyone, get back!" Rika shouted. The many onlookers looked at her with blank faces, wondering why they needed to move away.

"GET BACK!" Rika roared as she pointed her M4 in the air and shot a single round.

The onlookers screamed and ran away in various directions, pushing one another to get away faster.

Tajima had finally climbed out from the sewers and leaned down to offer his hand to Shinkawa who was just behind him. Shinkawa's head popped out from the manhole and reached his hand out. However down below, something had grabbed Shinkawa's legs.

"HELP!" Shinkawa screamed.

Rika ran over to help Tajima pull up Shinkawa, but it was too late. Shinkawa had been pulled back into the sewers, his scream faintly echoing down below.

"Cover the manhole!" Rika ordered as she pointed at the cover laying right next to the manhole. Rika stood up and pointed her M4 down at the blackness of the manhole. Tajima had swiftly covered the manhole and also pointed his rifle downwards, waiting to see if anything would pop out.

"Guys, watch the manhole. I need to contact the chief." Rika said to the remaining squad.

They ran over to the manhole cover, weapons ready to fire.

Rika walked a few feet away until she sat down at a bus stop bench. Placing her finger on her earpiece, she contacted the police chief.

"Something is fucking down there, and we're not prepared for it. Did anyone make it out?" She asked.

The chief made a quick count at the remaining dots on the screen, he lowered his head and exhaled slowly in defeat.

"There's only forty five of you remaining." He whispered into his headset.

Rika placed her hand on her forehead, her eyes closed tightly. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't. She needed to be professional. "Shit." She whispered.

Turning back, she walked over to her squad to deliver them the bad news. "Guys, only forty five of us made it out alive."

Tajima looked at her, but still positioned to shoot if needed. "What the fuck were those things? What kind of animals are they?" He asked, his voice shaking somwhat.

Rika looked down at the manhole. There was no explanation to what those things are. She had never seen anything like them. Their black slender looking bodies, their massive elongated heads, their razor sharp teeth. There truly was nothing like it.

"We need to regroup." Rika said.

The squadmates nodded.

"Chief, I'm recommending we declare a state of emergency. With the large number of those animals, and the loss of our SAT officers, we need to get the Self Defense Force involved." Rika said through her headset.

Back at the police station, the chief and his staff had turned their attention to a television set. Tokonosu wasn't the only city in the world that was being attacked by these monsters. All over the world in major cities, news reports were coming in that people were being attacked by what was being called a new species of organisms emerging out of nowhere. It wouldn't be long until military forces throughout the world would mobilize.

"Chief?" Rika said again.

**4:30PM, Fujimi High School**

School had ended, Takashi and his friends gathered outside near the school gates, talking with one another about how their day went as passing students left the campus and onto the streets. Takashi had remained silent the entire time, still bothered by Imamura's disappearance.

"Takashi? Are you okay?" Rei asked, tugging on his sleeve once again.

Takashi snapped out of his daze and looked at Rei and the others. He might as well not hold it in any longer. "Actually to be honest, no I'm not." He answered quietly.

Elijah and Fina were walking towards Takashi and the others as school had ended for them.

"What's up, TK?" Elijah waved as he approached Takashi. Elijah's enthusiasm changed to concern as he saw Takashi looking like something was bothering him.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

Takashi looked at his friends, all showing concern to why he was acting this way. Closing his eyes and loudly exhaling, Takashi confessed to what was on his mind.

"One of my friends went missing last night according to Morita." Takashi said as he looked at Morita.

"When did he disappear?" Hisashi asked, holding Rei's hand tightly. He hardly knew Imamura, but was aware of the friendship Takashi had with him.

"Sunday afternoon." Morita said, looking back at Takashi.

Elijah patted Takashi on the back. "Are the police looking for him?" He asked.

Takashi nodded.

While Fina was worried for Takashi, she also looked somewhat puzzled. "Who's Imamura if I may ask?" She said, looking at both Morita and Takashi.

"He's a friend of ours, he skipped that field trip we had so that's why you haven't met him." Takashi explained.

Fina walked closer to Takashi, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, I'm sure the police will find him soon." She said, hoping it would make Takashi feel optimistic.

"I just hope he's not hurt." Takashi said quietly, looking down at his feet.

Rei let go of Hisashi's hand and walked over to give Takashi a hug. She didn't want to see Takashi in any sort of emotional pain and wanted to comfort him. Rei's embrace made Takashi feel complete as he wrapped his arms around her back. He didn't want to place his arms around her waist as Hisashi was right in front of him, otherwise he gladly would. A small part of Takashi wished Rei would at least kiss him on his cheek.

Saya whispered something negative about Imamura into Kohta's ear, not wanting to say it openly as it may anger Takashi.

Saeko stood silently as she watched Rei and Takashi holding each other. She didn't know who Imamura was, but she didn't want to see her new friend upset. Saeko lowered her eyes slightly down, no longer looking at Takashi and Rei.

Saya looked ahead to see the Rolls-Royce drive up to her. "I'm going home. Komuro, sorry about your friend." She simply said as the driver opened up the door for her to get in. The Rolls-Royce drove off, leaving the remaining friends alone.

"Let's just go home." Takashi said.

**35 Minutes Later.**

As everyone had broke away from the group and went on their seperate ways, Takashi and Saeko were the only two left. They walked side by side as they were nearing Takashi's neighborhood. Saeko wanted to return the favor to Takashi when he walked her home early Sunday morning.

The whole time, Takashi and Saeko remained silent. Once in a while, Saeko would glance over to see how Takashi was feeling. Takashi's hands were in his pockets as he looked down at the sidewalk, his feet kicking a rock.

Saeko was feeling very concerned for Takashi. One night he was happy and carefree, now he was quiet and sad. Saeko knew that she should also do the best she can to comfort Takashi to the best of her ability.

Finally approaching his home, Takashi turned to face Saeko. "Thanks for walking me home." He said with a small smile on his face. However his eyes showed a much different emotion.

Saeko also smiled. "Takashi, may I see your phone?" She asked.

Takashi reached into his pocket and handed Saeko his cell phone. Flipping it open, Saeko pressed some digits and returned the phone to him.

"You have my number now. If you need anything, no matter the time. I'll be there for you." She said warmly.

Takashi nodded. "Thank you. Anyways, see you tomorrow." He said as he turned around to walk inside his home.

Saeko reached out to grab Takashi's hand, catching him off guard. While his body was faced forward, Takashi looked back at Saeko. She looked at him with worry, as if this could be the last time she would ever see him again. Saeko slowly pulled Takashi closer to her as she raised her arms up to wrap them around Takashi's neck. Takashi was taken back by her sudden actions. His arms were held outwards, as if he wasn't sure if he should touch her.

Finally giving in, Takashi slowly wrapped his arms around Saeko's waist. His hands touching the small of her back, their bodies pressed up against each other. He rested his head on Saeko's shoulder, his eyes looking up at the orange afternoon sky. A few birds flew by, his eyes following them as they flew towards the golden sun setting down behind the city skyline.

Slowly breaking away from their embrace, Takashi looked at Saeko with a now genuine smile.

"Thank you." He said again.

Saeko also smiled, she was happy she was able to make him feel better even if it were for a short while. And if he ever needed her, she would drop whatever she was doing to come to him for more comfort.

"I will see you at school tomorrow." Saeko said as she turned around and walked down the street.

Takashi looked up at the sky again, happy that he had friends willing to be there for him. It's been a long since since he had friends like that. And they were willing to do what they could to make him feel better.

Takashi turned around to head inside his home.

**Tokonosu City Sewers**

At the very core of the sewers, the one creature who had been born and bursted out of Takumi's chest had molted and grown into something larger, something dangerous.

The Queen sat on her ovipositer, inside it were countless eggs waiting to be hatched. At the end of her ovipositer, she managed to lay an egg. Around her were dozens upon dozens of eggs. In the large room she was in, the entire core was covered in resin. Attached onto the resin were the captured Special Assault Team officers cocconed. Some of them had parasites attached to their faces, others died from the creature inside bursting out. The ones that were still alive were screaming, wishing to get out of this place.

The Queen breathed heavily, as if she were angry that some of her offspring was killed. However she could repopulate her hive with new warriors. She could sense other Queens around the world, also attempting to populate their kind. But most of all, she sensed that the Matriarch was trapped and wanted out of whatever was keeping her captive.

In the meantime, the Queen knew it was time to attack soon, she needed more hosts to cocoon.

**WEYLAND-YUTANI SPECIMEN NOTES: THE QUEEN**

**The Queen is the mother of all Xenomorph specimens. She is able to be born in at least two conditions. The first condition is if there is little or no Xenomorph activity in the surrounding areas. The Facehugger (STAGE 1 XENOMORPH) will alter the embryo's DNA structure inside it so that when the time comes for it to find a host to insert the embryo into, the Chestburster (STAGE 2 XENOMOPRH) will eventually molt and grow into a Queen (STAGE 4 XENOMORPH) so that she may begin to populate the now affected area with her eggs (STAGE 0 XENOMORPH) and eventually produce an offspring of Warriors (STAGE 3 XENOMOPRH) that will guard her and attempt to find more hosts. **

NOW we're getting closer to shit hittin' the fan. I know this was Takashi x Saeko heavy, but in the next couple of chapters it will start to become more Takashi x Rei. As for the Predators? Well, they'll show up in a few chapters.

Also, FYI if you haven't noticed in the past couple chapters I made references to The Terminator and Lollipop Chainsaw.


	9. The Birth of a Dynasty

Hey guys, I'm so, so, SOOO sorry for this long-delayed Chapter. I was in an accident and I needed to get surgery for my arm and hand. So far, I'm almost fully recovered, and I'll be picking up the story once again. I just need to get back into my writing mood and start planning out the plot. Um, I wouldn't call this chapter an eventful, action packed one. I guess it's more like the final hours of enjoying a normal life. Also, stick around and read some interesting info I would like to share once you're done reading the chapter.

Chapter 8: The Birth of a Dynasty

**6:00PM**

**Chiyoda, Tokyo**

**Kantei: The Prime Minister of Japan's Office**

The Kantei building was heavily guarded, the Tokyo Metropolitan Special Assault Team surrounded all sides and corners. They were armed to the teeth with assault rifles and light armored vehicles. An emergency meeting was being held inside.

In the largest office on the top floor of the Kantei, the Prime Minister of Japan sat at the farthest end of the office's long table, on both sides also sat his many advisors and administrators. In one day the National Crisis Management were getting reports from SAT Commanders stationed in five major cities about sudden attacks by a hostile species of animal.

The lights inside the main office were turned off, the blinds from the large side windows were shut. On the wall opposite of the Prime Minister was a large screen for him and his staff to see. The image that the screen displayed was a map of Japan, the cities that have reported the attacks were highlighted in red. Next to those highlighted cities listed the current number of casualties that were divided up as civilian, city police, and SAT along with the total amount.

"As you can see, the cities that are marked in red are the known locations on where these sudden attacks have occured. Two of them have faced a few hundred casualties, both civilian and law enforcement. In Akita, an entire SAT unit was eliminated in only one hour during a search and rescue mission to find missing civilians below the city surface." An administrator explained, he stood next to the screen as he pointed out which of the two cities were facing severe conditions.

The Prime Minister placed his hand on his chin as he studied the map with great worry. Never in his three years in office did he ever expect to witness such a horrific situation.

"The other cities that have sustained slightly less casualties are Matsue, Kyoto, and Tokonosu." The administrator continued.

"Just what sort of animal could be able to do something like this?" The Prime Minister asked openly.

He looked at his staff, even they couldn't be able to answer such a question. There was silence for a brief moment until one advisor spoke up. "Surely we can destroy this species, we have the weapons and equipment to do so." He encouraged.

The Prime Minister looked directly at him. "Did you not hear what happened earlier? The entire SAT unit that was based in Akita was completely wiped out in only an hour!" The Prime Minister shouted.

"Not to mention this is happening all around the world. Some countries are in worse conditions than we are." One administrator said.

Another advisor raised his hand. "That's why we must molbilize! Our Self Defense Force can be ready to go in and wipe them out. With the help of the US Military based here, we can eliminate these things within three days!" He shouted as he pounded his fist on the table.

The Prime Minister looked around for any other objections or suggestions. On the far right end, another advisor spoke up. "Your Excellency, I don't feel that military action needs to be taken just yet. If we send reinforcements from neighboring cities to join the remaining SAT units and a much larger arsenal we can attempt to eradicate these animals."

The Prime Minister thought for a second. "How many reinforcements do you suggest we send?" He asked.

The advisor thought for a second. "Fifteen hundred to two thousand at most I feel would be a sizeable amount."

The Prime Minister stood up from his seat and walked over to the covered windows, the blinds that shielded any light from entering the dark office were automatically sliding to one side, revealing the entire Tokyo city skyline that was beginning to light up and the sun just about to set beneath the urban horizon. Above the city skyline was a layer a orange light, leaving the rest of the sky covered in a beautiful mixture of pink, purple and blue.

The Prime Minister stood in front of the window observing the view with his hands behind his back. "Here's what we'll do. We're in high alert, for the remaining SAT units we will rearm them. Send as many reinforcements as you can to the remaining squads for patrol. Also, enforce a curfew. We'll give the SAT at least forty eight hours to take whatever action they feel is necessary to destroy the animals. If the situation doesn't improve by then, we'll have the military take over. Have them on standby just in case. At that point, we'll evacuate as many people as we can and quarantine any city that is showing signs of catastrophic fatalities. As for the media, I don't wish to cause a panic so we'll simply inform them that wild animals are on the loose and the SAT is handling the situation." He instructed.

The Prime Minister's staff nodded in response, it wasn't a final solution, but it was a plan nonetheless. Soon after, the main door to the office opened and a man rushed in.

"Your Excellency!" He said out loud from across the room.

The Prime Minister and his staff turned to look at the man. "Yes, what is it?" He asked.

"A Ms. Chiyeko Yutani wishes to speak with you." The man replied.

**7:35PM**

Takashi was sitting at his kitchen table eating some instant noodles he had heated in the microwave for dinner. He had a slight change of mood after his friends reached out to give him some comfort, however he still had Imamura on his mind.

Takashi's cell phone that he placed on the table started to light up and vibrate. He reached out to check who was calling him, it was Elijah. Takashi flipped open his cellphone to take the call.

"Hello?" Takashi asked.

"TK! Have you been watching the news?" Elijah asked loudly on the other line.

"No." Takashi said, shaking his head even though Elijah couldn't be able to see it.

"Go turn on your TV." Elijah answered.

Takashi ran over to his living room with his cell phone still pressed up to his ear and reached for the television remote that was on the coffee table. Turning it on, he noticed a breaking news report.

"We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news. Throughout the Nation, there has been an increasing number of attacks by a violent species of animal in several metropolitan areas. We do not know what sort of animals are responsible for these attacks as government and law enforcement agencies refuse to comment on the matter, but we do know is that Prefectual Police and Special Assault Teams will be on high alert for the next two days." The newscaster, a woman in her thirties spoke through Takashi's television.

"What the hell?" Takashi said silently.

"You hearing this?" Elijah asked.

"Yeah, I do." Takashi answered.

"In the meantime, the Government has declared a nationwide curfew to ensure the safety of the people living in areas where these animals currently are inhabiting. Prefectural Police and Special Assault Teams will be patrolling these cities to both protect civilians and potentially eliminate any hostile animals they may encounter. I shall give you a list of cities that are affected in a few moments time." The newscastor countined.

Takashi sat down on the living room couch, nothing like this has ever happened before. What sort of animal was this?

"Guess what? Tokonosu is one of the cities that are inhabiting these things." Elijah said.

Takashi leaned forward. "Are you serious?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, but that's not the only thing I wanted to tell you. We need to get the others. There's something I gotta show you." Elijah said.

"But what about the curfew?" Takashi asked. He got up from the couch and walked across his living room to a glass door that led to his balcony. Looking through the glass door he could see neighboring houses having their window curtains and blinds closed from the people that lived inside.

"Fuck the curfew, we need to get together. Something's up, and it's not just in Japan." Elijah answered. He didn't care what the news said, he needed to show Takashi and the others what has been happening recently.

"Okay. I'll get Miyamoto, Igou, and Busujima. You get Takagi and Hirano." Takashi answered.

"No problem, oh and TK? Bring something to defend yourself with and anything else you might need like extra clothes or something, same for the others. You guys can stay at our place, it'll be too risky for all of you to go back home." Elijah then hung up.

Takashi began to dial Rei's number. After a few rings, she finally picked up on the other line.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Rei, You and Hisashi need to meet up at my place. Bring extra clothes and something to protect yourself with. Watch out for cops. We'll be spending the night with Senna and Prost. I'll give you more details when you get here." Takashi explained.

"Wait, what?" Rei sounded confused, she found Takashi's sudden request very bizarre.

"Please, just trust me on this. Can you two make it over here?" Takashi asked.

There was silence for several seconds, Takishi could hear Rei sigh before she finally spoke up. "Okay, I'll call Hisashi and we'll be on our way over." Rei answered. There was a hint of doubt in her voice.

"Thanks." Takashi answered. He heard Rei hang up the phone, now there was just one more person he needed to call.

Saeko was laying in her bathtub, her eyes were closed as she relaxed in the hot water that soothed her body. It was quite pleasant. Her eyes slowly opened as she could hear her phone ringing just down the hall. Slighty annoyed, she got up from the bathtub and wrapped a towel around her. After walking through the hallway, she managed to pick up the phone in the living room.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Saeko! It's Takashi." Takashi answered.

Had it been anyone else, Saeko would politely inform the caller that this wasn't a suitable time to call and hang up. Instead, she sat down on a chair and listened to what Takashi needed to say.

"Do you need anything?" Saeko asked.

"Yeah, I need you to come to my house. Senna has something to show us over at his place and it sounds very serious. Miyamoto and Igou are on their way over to my house and we'll all be heading over there. Bring extra clothes and anything else you might need because it won't be safe for you to head back home afterwords. If you haven't been watching the news, I'll explain everything to you when you get here. Just try not to get spotted by the cops." Takashi explained

"I will be over shortly." Saeko replied, almost about to hang up before Takashi spoke up again.

"Oh and Saeko?" Takashi said.

Saeko brought the phone back to her ear. "Yes?" She asked.

"Bring a weapon." Takashi hung up afterwords.

After draining the water out from her bathtub and drying herself off, Saeko went into her bedroom to get some clothes. Remembering what Takashi said about not getting caught by police on the way over, she needed to find a suitable set of clothes that she could move around in if she needed to make a quick escape and hide.

Saeko began to comb her hair and using a thin hairstring, she tied it in a ponytail. After putting on a sports bra and a thong that were both black, Saeko felt that black yoga pants, a white tank top, a black zip up hoodie, and women's DC Trainer Running Shoes would be perfect. She put an extra set of clothes in a gym sack for when she needed to change tomorrow.

After slinging the gym sack around her shoulders, Saeko looked at the Bokken leaning next to her nightstand. Picking it up, Saeko was about to leave before she studied it. Takashi did mention she should bring a weapon and a bokken wasn't one, or at least not a good enough weapon. Setting it back down, Saeko turned off the light in her bedroom and left to go back into her living room.

Hanging just above the fireplace was a katana. The same katana used by her ancestors since the 7th century Yamato Period that was passed down from generation to generation. They've protected Royalty, Villages, and previous Busujima family members. Now, it was her turn to use it. Unlike other katanas made before and after, this one was unique. There was a secret history behind this truly one of a kind sword, she had heard countless stories about it from the sword's origins and assembly to the battles it had endured. Saeko was sworn to protect this sword and the secret it contained, even it meant taking another person's life or her own to protect those secrets.

Saeko gently picked up the katana hanging from the wall with both hands. Slowly sliding it out from its sheath, she inspected the blade. It had showed no signs of age or scratch marks as it glistened from the living room lights. It looked like it hadn't even been touched. Nearby was a belt she could wear around her waist and use it to attach the katana next to her hip.

Now armed with a weapon, Saeko turned off all the lights in her home and walked towards the front door. Before leaving, Saeko looked over her shoulder. She was beginning to feel like she would never return to her home. Finally turning off the lights in her living room, Saeko left her house to venture out into the desolate neighborhood streets.

**Rika's Apartment**

Shizuka was sitting in the living room watching the news report that was being broadcast all around the country. She hadn't heard from Rika since this morning and with mention that the Tokonosu Special Assault Team would be on high alert for tonight, she was beginning to feel worried.

Suddenly, the phone began to ring.

Shizuka got up from the couch and ran across the living room to pick up the phone, tripping over herself in the process.

Crawling on her knees and elbows, Shizuka finally managed to pick up the phone.

"H-Hello?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"It's me." Rika answered.

Shizuka quickly stood up on her feet, happy to hear from Rika after waiting for so long.

"Rika! Are you okay? I was just watching the news." Shizuka's tone was now of happiness, mixed with worry.

"I'm fine, but I don't know if things will get better anytime soon. I can't be on the phone for very long so I need to make this quick." Rika replied. She and the forty five remaining Tokonosu SAT Officers were at an armory gearing up, more heavily this time around to patrol the city and kill any more of those creatures if they encounter them. They were also expecting reinforcements that would arrive by both a convoy of armored trucks and helicopters in the next hour.

"I'm listening." Shizuka whispered, sitting down on a chair.

"Those animals that the news was talking about are dangerous, I never thought anything like that could ever exist. They look like... fucking bugs or something. You need to stay home and don't even go out on the balcony. If you have to, use my guns." Rika instructed.

"What happened to you earlier?' Shizuka asked, nervously tangling the phone wire with her fingers.

"A team of a hundred and thirty of us went underground to look for people that had gone missing into the sewers, that was when we first encountered those bugs. They ripped us to shreds down there. Only forty five of us made it out." Shizuka could hear an inaudible male voice speaking to Rika soon afterwords, she could also hear Rika answer with a simple okay followed by what sounded like an order she had given.

"I need to go now, I'll call again by sunrise. Okay? Bye." Rika then hung up.

Shizuka slowly hung up her phone and lowered her head. She didn't want for things to sound this bad. But whether she wanted to or not, she needed to expect the worst.

**Elijah and Fina's House**

"I'll call Kohta, you call Saya." Elijah said, dialing down Kohta's number with his cell phone.

Fina nodded and went into the kitchen to use the house phone.

Elijah waited a few seconds before Kohta finally picked up. He was playing video games prior to Elijah calling.

"Hello?" Kohta asked over his phone.

"Hey, it's Elijah. I need you to drop whatever it is you're doing and come to my place ASAP. I'll e-mail you directions on how to get here. Everyone else will be coming over." Elijah said, typing on his laptop.

"Is something wrong?" Kohta asked.

"No, but I have a feeling things will go wrong soon. If you can, bring a weapon and anything else you might need. Watch out for cops." Elijah explained, looking at a video through his laptop.

"Does this have to do with the curfew coming into effect?" Kohta asked.

"Yes. Now please get over here if you can." Elijah then hung up.

Looking over his shoulder, Elijah could see Fina on the phone with Saya.

"Saya, it's Fina. You need to come to our place, Elijah e-mailed you directions on how to get here." Fina said, looking back at Elijah.

"Okay first off, you don't know me well enough to call me by my first name so it's Takagi to you! Second, why should I come over?" Saya snapped.

Fina sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. "Fine. TAKAGI, Takashi and the others are on their way over here right now. Elijah has something very important to show us and we need to prepare for when things start to look really bad. If you decide to come over, bring something to protect yourself with and anything else you think you'll might need. Avoid the police." Fina then hung up the phone, not wanting to hear anymore of Saya's rude outbursts.

"I swear that girl..." Fina whispered.

Elijah chuckled. "I'm surprised Takashi has managed to put up with her for so long."

"Speaking of weapons, I'll be back." Fina said as she ran down the hall and into her bedroom.

Opening her closet, Fina pulled out a large metallic case and placed it on her bed. She started to smile as she was really wanting to use her weapon as it had been sitting in her closet ever since she came to Japan. Finally, her weapon might just be put to use.

**Takagi Manor**

Saya was on her computer to look for the e-mail that would give her directions to Elijah and Fina's house. She decided that she would meet up with them and the others. After finding the e-mail message, Saya grabbed a piece of paper and a pen to write down the directions. She would look up at the monitor, then back down at the paper to make sure everything was accurate. Saya deleted the e-mail afterwords as she didn't want to leave any traces of her whereabouts behind for her parents to discover.

After dressing up in a gray sweater, light blue jeans, and black Puma running shoes. Saya grabbed a red backpack and put some extra clothes, a notebook, and a pen inside it. Her parents were in the living room, unaware that their one and only daughter would be sneaking out of the house. If Takashi and the others were being called to gather at Elijah and Fina's house, then it must be about something important.

Saya climbed out of her bedroom window and jumped onto a tree branch. She was beginning to feel a little scared of the height from the branch to the lawn, but she had to be brave. Dangling from the branch, Saya jumped onto the lawn and ran through the courtyard, looking behind and around her to make sure nobody would spot her. After quickly sneaking her way past the courtyard, Saya finally made it to the front gate.

"It's dangerous to go out there y'know."

Saya was about to open the front gate when she heard a familiar voice a distance away. Looking back, Saya could see a lone man sitting on a fold up chair in front of the garage with a case of beer next to him. It was the family's mechanic and handyman, Matsudo.

Matsudo got up from his chair and started to walk towards Saya, in one hand was a bottle of Kirin Ichiban.

"Don't try to stop me." Saya warned, ready to open the gate and make a dash.

Matsudo calmly shook his head. "Don't worry, I won't. You runnin' away?" He asked.

Saya looked down, she began to look guilty. "Maybe." She timidly answered.

Matsudo slowly nodded. "Like I said, it's dangerous to go out there. You been watchin' the news?"

Saya looked back up at Matsudo and shook her head.

"Ah, well if you're goin' out there you'll need some protection. Come with me into the garage, lemme give you something." Matsudo said as he waved for Saya to follow him.

Saya hesitated, but followed Matsudo anyways.

When the two were inside the garage, Matsudo opened a nearby locker and pulled out a black box with a lock on it.

"What are you going to give me?" She asked, looking back to make sure this wasn't a trap to prevent her from running away.

Unlocking the box, Matsudo handed Saya a Glock 18 handgun along with 10 clips filled with ammunition.

Saya was taken back by this unusual offering. "A gun?! You're giving me a gun?" She asked.

Matsudo took a sip of his beer and nodded. "Yep, I did say it's dangerous to go out there."

Saya held the grip of the firearm with her thumb and index finger, as if she wasn't sure how to properly hold it.

"Isn't this yours?" Saya asked, still looking at the firearm.

"It was, but you'll need it more than I do." Matsudo said between sips of his beer.

Saya unslung her backpack to put the clips and the Glock inside. Soon afterwords, she thought of an idea and she pulled out the notebook and pen from her packpack to write something down. After finishing writing whatever it was, Saya folded the paper and handed it to Matsudo.

"Give this to my parents tomorrow or whenever they ask where I am." She said.

Matsudo nodded as he took the note. "Very well then. So, I guess this is it huh? You be careful. I just hope you're not gonna be alone out there."

Saya started to feel teary eyed, she quickly reached out to hug Matsudo tightly. Matsudo set his beer bottle down on top of a toolbox and returned the hug, patting Saya on the back gently.

"I have friends waiting for me. Thanks, you were a good friend over the years and I just want you to know that you really mean alot to me." Saya said, trying her best not to cry.

Matsudo took Saya's hand and walked her out to the front gate. Opening it slightly, Saya ran off into the empty streets with tears now rolling down her cheeks. She never looked back.

As soon as Matsudo saw Saya vanish into the streets, he unfolded the note to see what it said.

**To Mama and Papa,**

**If you're reading this, I just want you to know that I left home. It may be forever, or it may not be. I don't know. I'll be with friends so you don't need to worry about my personal safety, I'd rather be with them instead of sulking around in my bedroom. They were better at being a family than you two will ever be. You're most likely going to try to look for me, all I can say is don't bother. I'll be long gone by the time you get this letter. Maybe I'll even get out of the country. Who knows? **

**Goodbye.**

**PS: I stole Matsudo's gun. I got to protect myself somehow out there.**

"Take care, lady Saya." Matsudo said quietly.

**Takashi's Frontyard**

Rei and Saeko had arrived. Takashi was wearing his Puma evoSPEED shoes, worn out jeans, a Ducati zip-up hoodie that was black all over, but the paddings on the elbows and shoulders were red. Underneath that was a black tank top. His backpack was filled with both his and Rei's extra clothes, his cell phone charger, and a butterfly knife. The frontyard was quiet and dark, but street lights illuminated portions of the streets and surrounding neighborhoods.

Rei had on a black long sleeve shirt, black tennis shoes, and jeans that were light blue in color.

"Where's Hisashi?" Takashi asked Rei.

"He said we should just go on ahead and he will meet with us later. He has nunchucks so that's his weapon." Rei answered quietly, sounding a little bit worried.

Rei handed Takashi a weapon he could use. The weapon had a rubber grip and metal rod that Takashi extended outwards with a quick flick of his wrist. The weapon was about the length and width of a baseball bat. On the grip was a switch, Takashi flipped the switch and the metal rod began to glow a light blue and eletric bolts would hover all around the rod.

"It's a stun baton. The voltage is very strong, and if you hit someone hard enough with it you could kill them so..." Rei hesitated on finishing what she was trying to explain, she hoped that Takashi wouldn't have to kill anyone.

Takashi swung the stun baton around as if it actually were a baseball bat. After making a few practice swings, he flipped the switch to turn off the stun baton and pushed the rod downwards, compacting the overall length of the rod." This is good, what about you?" He asked, looking at Rei.

"I can use this as a flamethrower." Rei explained as she held up her weapon with both hands. She brought with her a can of hairspray and a lighter, the combination of the two items would prove to be fatal.

Saeko looked around the empty streets, making sure nobody was around.

"So now that we're here, what is it you wanted to tell us before we go to Senna and Prost's house?" She asked as she had her arms crossed, still glancing around their surroundings.

Takashi looked at both sides of the neighborhood street. After seeing that the coast was clear, Takashi ran out of his frontyard and onto the neighborhood streets, waving at the two girls to follow him.

"I was watching the news, it said that there's a whole bunch of animals attacking people out of nowhere in a few cities across the country. And according to Elijah, those animals are here in the city as well. But he wants to tell us something, I'm guessing it has to do with what's been happening recently." He explained as the three ran into a pitchblack back alley way.

"Is that why we have weapons?" Rei asked, running closely behind Takashi.

"Yeah I guess so." Takashi answered.

The three friends stopped at the end of an alley and were forced to back up, a squad car was out on patrol and they didn't want to get arrested for being out on curfew. After watching the squad car continue to drive through the street, Takashi and the girls quickly ran across to the next alleyway.

It didn't take long until they had met up with Saya and Kohta. Kohta was in black military style boots, digital camoflage military pants, a grey T-shirt that had a picture of Robert De Niro with a mohawk pointing a gun and the words "You talkin' to me?" above, a black DC Shoes military style jacket, and a digital camoflage MOLLE backpack big enough to fill survival equipment, extra clothes, tools, and even ammuntion if he had any.

Saya waved at Takashi and the girls as they crossed paths to take a quick break from running. Realizing a police squad car was driving up to them from behind, they quickly ran to avoid getting caught. They had successfully made it to Elijah and Fina's house fifteen minutes later.

**9:20PM**

Elijah and Fina were sitting in the living room watching the news when they heard the doorbell ring.

"That must be them, I'll get it." Fina called out as she got up from the living room couch and walked over to open the front door.

Opening the door she saw Takashi and the others, they were regaining their breath from running nonstop, Kohta almost looked like he was about to pass out. Fina opened the door wider and motioned for them to get inside.

"You two better have a good reason on why you called us over here!" Saya shouted as she shoved her way past Takashi and Kohta.

Fina held up her hands as she stepped back. "Whoa, Whoa. Calm down, let's all just go in the living room. Elijah's waiting for you there."

After taking off their various footwear, Takashi and the others followed Fina into the living room where Elijah was sitting on the couch, his laptop sitting on the coffee table and the flat screen television showing constant news updates about the current situation happening in the city and across the country. The lights inside the living room and kitchen were turned on brightly.

Elijah got up from his seat. "Hey." He said to Takashi, holding his laptop.

"Ok, so what do you have to show us?" Takashi asked.

Fina went into the kitchen to get glasses of ice cold water for Takashi and the others to drink. Takashi, Rei, and Saeko sat on the living room couch while Saya and Kohta remained standing up just behind them.

Elijah pointed at the flat screen. "Okay, so far the news is holding out on us when it comes to actual news about this new species of animal. Well, I have a couple things I wanted to show you." Elijah walked in front of the flat screen and using a cable, he plugged his laptop to the flatscreen, allowing everyone to see better what it was he wanted to show them that was already on the screen of his laptop.

Kneeling down in front of the television, Elijah logged onto the internet and began to type and click on a few articles to be brought up on the flat screen. He then leaned forward and pointed at the flatscreen. "Look, in alot of parts around the world, similar things are happening. Recent animal attacks, some countries have the military on standby, it's not just in Japan." Elijah said as he clicked over articles to back up his observation.

Takashi and the others studied the multiple reports as Elijah brought up article after article, all of them in various languages. Elijah would read a few lines from the articles out loud that detailed similar situations on the animal attacks.

"The Japanese government is saying these are a bunch of wild animals on the loose, but in different parts of the world, these animals have done some major damage. Alot of people have either been killed or gone missing ever since they started to show up." Elijah continued. He clicked out the articles and brought up a new window screen that was a map of the world and had parts of it highlighted in red, the highlighted areas were the known locations of the animal attacks.

Fina returned to the living room and handed everyone a glass of ice cold water for everyone to drink, she kneeled down next to Elijah on the living room floor to get a good look at what was being shown on the flat screen.

Takashi scanned the map, but his main focus was on Japan.

"And as I said to Takashi earlier, they're in this city." Elijah continued.

"How did you find out about that?" Kohta asked.

"I was on a forum and some staff at the police station leaked out some info about how a Special Assault Team squad got ambushed earlier today. The details weren't much, but It sounded very bad from what I read so far." Elijah answered.

The group looked at one another, in their minds they thought up the many possibilies of what the animals could look like and what it could be capable of. If this unknown species is capable of causing such destruction, it would take a person's worst nightmare to get a possible idea.

"So why won't the Self Defense Force just go in and take them all out?" Takashi asked.

"They're probably waiting to see if the Special Assault Team can still be able to handle the problem. If it gets worse, the Self Defense Force and American Military will take over from there on out." Kohta answered in place of Elijah.

Elijah clicked out of the map and once again began to type down something, revealing a new window.

"Now here's something that really caught my attention. Ever since these attacks happened, a whole bunch of conspiracy theorists started to show up on message forums, chat rooms, and even post up youtube videos explaining that what is happening around the world right now, has already happened before." Elijah said as he scrolled down the window using his laptop's touchpad.

The window was information Elijah had gathered ever since the first reports of attacks were written. Elijah looked over his shoulder to look at Takashi and the others. "How many of you know about the Gunnison incident?" He asked.

Nobody knew what Elijah was talking about, but Kohta raised his hand. "I do." He answered.

"Ok, what do you know?" Elijah asked with interest.

"Well, in 2004 a small town in the U.S. had to be evacuated because of a meltdown in a nuclear powerplant. However they couldn't be able to repair the problems, and the powerplant blew up and destroyed the entire town of Gunnison." Kohta explained.

Elijah snapped his fingers. "Wrong! First off, Gunnison NEVER had any sort of powerplant according to public records." Elijah turned back to the flatscreen and using the touchpad, he highlighted various posts that conspiracy theorists had typed up.

"What really happened according to these people is that Gunnison was infested with the same species of animals that are now appearing all around the world. Gunnison was a small town and it took at least twelve hours for them to cause some major havoc. The government just made up that bullshit story as a cover-up." Elijah explained. He looked at all the information he gathered with intensity.

"So, if there was never a nuclear power plant in that town, what destroyed it?" Takashi asked, looking at Elijah.

Elijah didn't turn around, his focus was on the flatscreen.

"An F-22 Raptor was sent to drop a nuclear bomb to destroy the town and wipe out any evidence of what really happened. Alot of people died, but no more than thirty people managed to make it out alive." Elijah answered.

Saya rolled her eyes, she found conspiracy theories idiotic. "Well here in Japan we don't kill our own people whenever a bunch of wild animals are out on the loose. But really, what was the point in calling us over here?" She asked rudely, her arms crossed.

Elijah stood up from the floor and turned to face Saya and everyone else. "Ok, Saya-"

"TAKAGI!" Saya yelled out as she balled up her fists and stomped on the floor.

"Sorry! Takagi, the reason why I called all of you over here we should make a plan on getting out of the city and find somewhere else to stay until things settle down, like a city that isn't affected by these attacks. I know it sounds all crazy and out of the blue, but with those things here, and the info I gathered up, it'll be too dangerous to stay in the city for much longer. I'm thinking we should get the hell outta here as soon as we can while we still have a chance." Elijah answered.

Elijah then looked towards Takashi. "TK, doesn't this sound suspicous? A sudden curfew all because of a bunch of animals? Military Action being taken in other parts of the World? What do you think we should do?" He asked.

Takashi glanced over to both sides and noticed that both Rei and Saeko looking at him, and he sensed that Saya and Kohta were too. It felt like he had the final word on what they should do. Takashi lowered his head, there was the possibility of things turning out alright, but with what the news was reporting and Elijah's discovery on the internet, he had to take that into consideration as well.

"I say we just stay here for tonight. We'll keep watching the news to see if anything happens. Elijah, you have the internet so keep looking out for any updates happening around the country. If something happens here in the city or anywhere else, then we should get out of the city first thing tomorrow morning." Takashi instructed.

Elijah nodded. "Got it." He then knelt down to unplug his laptop from the flatscreen. The flatscreen switched over to a news broadcast about current situations in regards to the curfew, the animals, and possible military involvement. Elijah noticed the battery on his laptop was running low, he reached for the charger that was on the coffee table and connected that to his laptop and plugged the charger to a nearby outlet for it to charge. He would check the internet later on tonight.

Fina stood up from the living room floor and looked at Rei. "Where's your boyfriend? Shouldn't he be here with us?" She asked.

"He told us to go on ahead and that he'll arrive later." Rei answered, she was beginning to feel more worried about Hisashi being out on there on the streets alone, especially with those animals somewhere out there.

Fina then glanced over to see Saeko who was quietly watching TV at one end of the couch she had shared with Takashi and Rei, on the side of the couch was her sword that was leaning against the armrest.

"By the way, we should talk weapons. What does everyone have?" Fina asked, looking around at everybody.

Saeko didn't answer, she simply lifted up her sword to show that she had a weapon.

"I have a butterfly knife and Miyamoto gave me a stun baton." Takashi unzipped his backpack he had set on his lap to pull out the knife. He laid that and the stun baton on the coffee table, showing it to everyone.

"I think these will make a good weapon to scare off any animals if we encounter any." Rei lifted up both the hairspray can and lighter with her hands, also showing it to everyone. She set them on the coffee table as well.

"I don't have a weapon." Kohta quietly answered as he lowered his head.

"I do." Saya removed and unzipped her backpack, pulling out the Glock handgun that Matsudo had given her. Kohta saw the sidearm from the corner of his eye and his head shot back up in surprise.

"You have a Glock 18!" Kohta shouted excitedly, surprising everyone in the living room.

"Yeah, but I don't know how to shoot." Saya replied, leaning back slightly away from Kohta as he leaned in closer to her.

"Oh but I do." Kohta was beginning to smile sadistically, rubbing his hands together.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about you having a huge gun fetish. In that case, here. You better be a good shot." Saya then handed Kohta the handgun, along with the clips Matsudo gave to her from earlier.

Kohta inspected the weapon, he began to stroke it as if it were some sort of pet. Saya felt creeped out by his sudden unusual behavior but if it meant that Kohta could keep her alive and out of harm's way, she would try to look past that.

"What about you, Prost?" Saeko asked, looking at Fina calmly.

Fina smirked. "I'll be right back." She said as she walked down the hallway and into her bedroom, only to return with a large metal case. Everyone looked with interest as to what sort of weapon she had. Fina set down the case on the living room floor and opened up the locks. She lifted the top of the case that revealed her weapon: A black Hoyt Buffalo bow and a custom designed black quiver filled with arrows.

"Whoa." Takashi said to himself quietly.

"When I first moved here, I was hoping to join an archery club. However the school Elijah and I go to didn't have one. But now I finally have a reason to use it if those animals try to get us." Fina pulled out the bow and with the flick of her arm, the bow's limbs retracted outwards.

"By the way, Elijah. What do you plan to use?" Fina asked as she inspected her bow.

Elijah was in front of everyone as he studied the weapons the group had brought. He didn't have anything to protect himself with.

"I...kinda don't have one." Elijah quietly answered.

Saya rolled her eyes. "Great, you had all of us bring weapons but you didn't even think to get one for yourself?" She remarked.

Fina lowered her bow and placed her hand on Elijah's shoulder. Elijah turned his head to see her smiling at him softly. "Don't worry, I'll watch out for you." She said as she patted his shoulder.

Elijah smiled back and nodded. "Thanks." He quietly replied.

Takashi felt something vibrating in his front pocket. His cellphone was ringing. Takashi pulled out his cellphone and noticed that the number wasn't familiar. He was confused, but decided to answer anyway.

Takashi placed the phone next to his ear. "Hello?" He asked.

"Hey it's Hisashi. Listen, I got arrested by the cops on the way over." Hisashi answered.

Takashi looked over to Rei who was sitting rather closely to him. "It's Hisashi, he got arrested." He said to her.

Rei's eyes widened. She was glad to hear from Hisashi, but upset that he was arrested. She looked at Takashi, waiting to hear more about what had happened.

"Do you want to speak to Rei?" Takashi asked.

"Yeah, I think I should." Hisashi answered.

Takashi handed Rei his cellphone. Rei quickly took the phone and got up from the couch, she walked into the dark hallway for some privacy.

"You got arrested?" Rei asked, looking down at the floor.

"Yeah, I'm only going to be in here overnight. They got me for being out on curfew and because I had nunchucks. So that means you won't be able to see me until tomorrow morning. When I get out, I'll meet up with you. Okay? Hey, I need to go. I don't have much time to talk so I'm sorry. Take care." Hisashi then hung up.

Rei looked at the cellphone, she was worried about Hisashi being in jail for the night. But a small part of her was happy that he would at least be somewhere safe, even if it wasn't the most comfortable place to be in.

Rei slowly walked back into the living room and sat back down next to Takashi. She handed him back his cellphone.

"Hisashi won't be getting out tonight. He said he would meet up with us tomorrow morning." Rei explained quietly and looked down at her hands that were placed on her lap.

Takashi leaned over and wrapped his arm around Rei's shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. Rei leaned over to rest her head on Takashi's shoulder, she didn't feel sad one bit to her surprise. If Takashi wasn't around, Rei would feel lost.

"He'll be safe." Takashi whispered, looking down at Rei.

Rei slowly lifted her head up to look at Takashi, all they could see was each other's eyes as they both smiled.

Saeko glanced over to see Takashi holding Rei. She didn't feel jealous, but it wasn't something she wanted to see. Saeko shifted her eyes back to the flatscreen.

There was silence amongst the friends, the only sound was from the television flatscreen and so far there wasn't anything important to pay attention to. The silence ended a few minutes later when Kohta's stomach started to growl loudly. Everyone looked at him with surprise that his stomach was capable of making such a loud noise. Kohta's face turned red in embarrassment as he quickly placed his hands on his stomach, as if it could silence the growling.

That would prove to be a failure as his stomach growled even louder. Most of the group began to giggle at the expense of Kohta's hunger.

"I didn't get a chance to eat any dinner." Kohta replied, clenching his stomach.

Fina clipped the bow's limbs together and set it back in the case, she then walked over to Kohta. "C'mon, I'll make you a sandwich." She said as she patted on Kohta's shoulder, Kohta turned to follow Fina into the kitchen much to his relief.

Saya looked at Elijah who was laying on the floor. He had his arms crossed behind his head as he stared at the ceiling. "Since we're all spending the night, where are we all supposed to sleep?" She asked.

Elijah rolled on his stomach to look at Saya. "Well, where do you want to sleep?" He asked.

"Not on the floor." She answered.

"Take my bed. It's large and comfortable enough. My room is down the hall, second door on the right." Elijah pointed at the hallway that was just past the kitchen. Saya looked back and nodded. She wasn't about to go to sleep yet, but wanted to know where exactly she would sleep whenever she began to feel tired.

Saya looked behind her to see Elijah and Fina's dining room table that was placed just between the kitchen counter and the living room couch. Saya grabbed a seat and set her backpack on the table to pull out her notebook and pen, she decided to write in the meantime.

Elijah remained laying down, still looking at the ceiling until he had an idea of his own. He stood up and walked towards his and Fina's stereo system. "Hope you guys don't mind, but I want to play some music in the meantime." He called out while grabbing a CD from the shelf nearby. Nobody objected, they were only guests.

Elijah felt the atmosphere amongst the group was a little too serious and decided that music would brighten up the mood, after placing a CD into the stereo system, Day Glo by Iglu & Hartly began to play.

_**They call me, Day glo, in the day I glo  
>They call me, night bright, in the night I light<br>All the corners of the streets with my eyes**_

Elijah stood in front of the flatscreen in a rockstar pose and positioned his hands as if he was holding a guitar, pretending to play the rhythm of the music that was now being played. He would mouth the lyrics to match the singing. The song was slightly louder than the volume of the flatscreen, but pleasant enough to listen.

Takashi, Rei, and Saeko were still sitting on the couch. Takashi watched Elijah dance around and play air guitar, he laughed at Elijah's "performance". Rei looked at Takashi and smiled at him even if he didn't noticed. Saeko also found Elijah's silliness amusing as she smiled too.

"Here you go." Fina said as she handed Kohta a rather large sandwich on a plate.

"Thanks, I was starving." Kohta took the plate with both hands and left the kitchen, he didn't know where to sit but noticed the other vacant chair across from Saya at the dining room table. He breathed in deeply and walked over to her.

_**They call me, Day glo, in the day I glo  
>They call me, Night bright, in the night I light<br>All the corners of the streets getting high**_

"Would it be alright if I ate here?" He asked.

Saya was still writing on her notebook, not bothering to look up. "I don't care, it's not my house." She bluntly answered.

Kohta pulled the chair back and sat down, he began to quietly eat his sandwich. He looked at the notebook and wondered what exactly she was writing. He wanted to ask, but decided against it. Saya may snap at him and say it was none of his business. Saya finally finished her diary entry and began to read it:

**I never spent the night with friends, it's almost like a slumber party except that Senna decided to be a nutjob and call us all over to his and Prost's house to show us some so-called conspiracy theory about these animals that started to attack people out of nowhere. To be honest, I'm almost tempted to believe him. Komuro thinks we should wait until tomorrow morning to see if we should leave town or not. I'm hoping we do, by now Mama and Papa probably have found out I ran away and are hellbent on finding me...Or they probably just don't give a shit. I'm going for the latter.**

Satisfied with her first entry, Saya closed the notebook and placed it and the pen back inside her backpack. She perched her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand, she appeared to be bored as she looked at Elijah's silly dancing.

_**They call me  
>Day-glo<br>In the day I glow  
>They call me<br>Night bright  
>In the night I light<strong>_

Saeko looked over the couch to see Fina still in the kitchen, she appeared to be blending some fruits and juices together. Looking back at Takashi and Rei, Saeko decided to get up from the couch to converse with Fina instead. Walking past the dining room table where Saya and Kohta were still sitting at, Saeko entered the small kitchen and approached Fina.

"I must say, I'm surprised to know that you have an interest in archery." Saeko said as she stood a few inches away from Fina.

Fina looked back at her as she continued to blend. "Yeah, I get that alot. Does Fujimi have an archery club?" She asked as she finished blending.

Saeko nodded. "Yes, a kyudo club." Saeko leaned against the kitchen counter, her arms crossed.

Fina turned around to open a shelf on the other side of the kitchen and reached in to grab two glasses for her and Saeko. "Aw man, I'm jealous. I would've gladly joined. Smoothie?" She offered after she poured herself a glass of smoothie.

Saeko nodded again, Fina poured the second glass and handed it to Saeko. Saeko took a small sip and her eyes widened slightly at the flavor that entered her mouth. "It tastes like banana and chocolate." Saeko took another sip, she never thought the two would taste so good together.

"It's good, one of my favorites." Fina took a sip from her own glass and looked to her left to see Elijah's dancing and singing at the farthest end of the house. Looking down slightly, she could see Takashi and Rei sitting on the couch. "By the way, question." Fina asked.

"Yes?" Saeko asked, setting her glass down on the counter.

"That night after we all left the arcade, what did you and Takashi do when he walked you home?" Fina decided to engage in a little girl gossip with Saeko to pass the time.

"Nothing to be honest, we walked home in silence and looked at the stars. I did mention to him I was quite envious that he had such close friends." Saeko answered, she looked down at the white floor.

"Don't you have friends?" Fina asked, her head tilted to the side.

Saeko nodded. "I consider my now former kendo team a family, and my closest friend lives in another town, but I never found someone I could relate to. When Taka...Komuro and I were on the balcony that night, he treated me differently as we talked about each other. Like I was an actual girl instead of a fellow classmate or competitor. It made me feel welcomed, so when he walked me home, I asked if we could become friends and he accepted." Saeko looked up at the ceiling light and smiled.

Fina started to grin mischievously and leaned in closer to Saeko. "Did you two kiss?" She whispered teasingly.

Saeko looked back at Fina surprised and blushed. "No..." She answered in a shy tone, quickly looking away to hide her blush.

Fina laughed. "I'm just teasing you. But really, I can't speak for Miss bitchy bitch, Kohta, and Rei over there, but Elijah and I consider you a friend too."

Saeko looked back at Fina, her blush had faded away. "Thank you, that means alot."

Out of nowhere Elijah danced into the kitchen, both Fina and Saeko looked at him with confused looks on their faces as he was still singing.

_**They call me  
>Day-glo<br>In the day I glow  
>They call me<br>Night bright  
>In the night I light<br>Up all the corners of the streets with my eyes  
><strong>_

Elijah opened the refrigerator door and reached in to grab a can of soda, his foot tapping on the floor to the rhythm of the music. He closed the door and turned to look at the two confused girls, he held up the can like it was a microphone to continue lip-syncing the song.

_**I got nothing to give, just a little tiny surprise  
>Now you only know the me<br>That doesn't think twice  
>Acting so cool and relaxed<br>Yea I seem so nice  
>Fuckin' free like a bird<br>But I don't fly much  
>And I like how you like my touch<br>Now check it what**_

Elijah danced back out of the kitchen as he popped open the soda can to take a chug of his beverage. Both Saeko and Fina looked at each other with blank stares for a few seconds before they bursted into laughter, Saeko covered her mouth with her hand out of politeness.

_**They call me, Day glo, in the day I glo  
>They call me, night bright, in the night I light<br>All the corners of the streets with my eyes**_

Kohta looked back to see Elijah dancing his way towards the living room. "Hey Senna?" He asked.

"Yo." Elijah stopped to turn around.

"Where can I sleep?" Kohta looked around at possible areas around the house for him to sleep.

"Take my room." Elijah turned back and made his way back to the living room.

Kohta looked back at Saya, her arms crossed as she shook her head. "You're not sleeping with me. You can have the floor." She warned.

Kohta blushed and nodded. "I wasn't planning on it." He said innocently. The thought of him and Saya sharing a bed together gave him a warm feeling that would only happen in his fantasy.

_**They call me, Day glo, in the day I glo  
>They call me, Night bright, in the night I light<br>All the corners of the streets getting high**_

Elijah laid back down as he opened up his laptop to go onto the internet, he looked for any updates that had occurred since and so far nothing had happened. He decided to also use the time to look for any possible locations to escape to in the event something did happen. The most realistic route would be to go south, none of the towns and cities had any indication of animal attacks or were anywhere near affected locations.

Looking back, Takashi and Rei were still sitting close to each other watching the news. They appeared to be relaxed.

"By the way, I dunno if you two would mind but you guys can sleep here in the living room. I can bring you some extra pillows and blankets if you need any." Elijah called out.

Takashi and Rei looked at Elijah, then at each other. "We don't mind sleeping here." Rei answered.

_**Swing and swing  
>And take your hand<br>And put it on the rope and swing  
>Doesn't matter if you let it go<br>You won't feel anything  
>We can't be hurt or touched<br>We got a ray of light, we're high, we're flying  
>And shining up above the moon tonight<strong>_

Takashi looked back at Rei again. "You can sleep on the couch, I'll take the floor." Takashi said.

Rei simply nodded with a smile.

_**See I'm melting like a man of snow  
>Or a snowman<br>Holdin cold hands  
>Take a little sip<br>But don't dance, ha  
>We can't be hurt or touched<br>We got a ray of light, we're high, we're flying  
>And shining up above the moon tonight<strong>_

Fina and Saeko where still in the kitchen, conversing with one another while still drinking their glasses of smoothie. Saeko decided to bring up a new question. "Where will I be sleeping if I may ask?" Saeko raised her hand over her mouth to cover a yawn.

"You can sleep with me, my bed is big enough. I mean, it's not like I'm being a lesbian or anything by offering you." Fina answered jokingly.

Saeko chuckled. "No I didn't think that, that will be fine. Do you have any clothes I could sleep in?" She asked.

Fina motioned with her head for Saeko to follow her down the hall. As they made it to the end of the hallway, Fina opened the door on the right side that revealed her bedroom. Compared to Elijah's, Fina's room was nice and neat. Fina opened a closet across from the bed and stood to the side for Saeko to pick out for her to sleep in.

Saeko decided on navy blue sleep shorts and removed her tank top and sports bra to wear a loose fitting gray long sleeve shirt.

Fina chuckled. "Funny, I never pictured you as a thong girl." She pointed out.

Saeko looked at her as she slid into the soft shorts. "Never judge a book by its cover." She replied with a smile.

_**They call me, Day glo, in the day I glo  
>They call me, night bright, in the night I light<br>All the corners of the streets with my eyes**_

Saya yawned as she stood up from her chair and decided it was time for her to start getting ready to go to sleep herself. "Senna, I'm using one of your shirts to sleep in." Saya said out loud, not waiting for a response from Elijah.

Kohta also got out of his chair and picked up his empty plate to place it in the kitchen sink. Looking at the living room, he saw Elijah and Fina's home as more of a military base with weapons at the ready, along with the flatscreen and Elijah's laptop giving intel for the group. He smiled at the thought but didn't want to mention it openly. Kohta tapped at the Glock that he had stuck in one of the pockets of his military jacket, he was more than ready to fight.

"Do you two want me to get you blankets and pillows now?" Elijah asked as he stood up and looked at Takashi and Rei. They nodded, Rei yawned and stretched her arms.

Elijah made his way through the hallway and opened up the door to his bedroom, only to hear a loud shriek and catching a glimpse of a topless Saya with the only fabric of clothing on her was her white and blue striped panties.

"SORRY!" Elijah shouted as he quickly shut the door, closing his eyes tightly.

"PERVERT!" Saya shouted even louder, covering her breasts even if Elijah couldn't see them anymore.

After a few seconds of silence, everyone in different areas of the house began to laugh at Saya's embarrassing moment even if they weren't able to witness it. Elijah stood next to the door until Saya opened it. She refused to look at him as she walked out of his bedroom and down the hallway to get her packback she had left on the dining room table. Elijah noticed that she was wearing one of his Ken Block T-shirts that was covered with various sponsor logos and a large 43 in white in the back. The shirt was large enough to cover her panties, but still revealed her slender legs. Elijah thought she looked cute in that shirt.

Fina walked out of her bedroom wearing gray sweatpants and a worn out black T-shirt of her own, she and Saeko were going to brush their teeth in the bathroom before going to bed only to discover Saya was already inside.

Fina walked back to Elijah. "What happened?" She asked, still giggling.

Elijah blushed. "I walked in on Saya who was pretty much naked while she was changing." Elijah replied.

Saeko who was behind Fina, laughed quietly at the response.

_**They call me, Day glo, in the day I glo  
>They call me, Night bright, in the night I light<br>All the corners of the streets getting high  
><strong>_

**11:30PM**

Turning off the lights in the living room, Elijah handed Rei and Takashi extra blankets and pillows from his closet for them to sleep in. Everyone had now brushed their teeth and put on some proper sleepwear for the night. In Elijah's room, Kohta was sound asleep on the floor, holding the Glock close to his chest and Saya had already forgotten about Elijah walking in on her as she too fell asleep.

Fina and Saeko slept next to each other peacefully, Saeko's sword was laid down next to her side of the bed while Fina's bow was now out of its case and attached to her quiver, also on her side of the bed.

"Okay, so I'm sure by tomorrow morning we'll find out what we should do. Fina will make all of us some breakfast regardless. If we do decide to leave town, I found a possible route we should take. But we'll talk about that tomorrow, anyways goodnight." Elijah left the living room and walked down the hall, he would also be sleeping on the floor in his bedroom.

"Goodnight." Both Takashi and Rei said in return. Underneath Rei's sweater was a light blue T-Shirt, all she had to do was unhook her bra and remove her pants and she was already in her sleepwear.

Takashi simply removed all of his clothes until he was in his boxers, neither of them seemed to mind that they would be in their underwear. The house was nearly dark and they would be underneath blankets so it wouldn't cause much of a problem.

Takashi arranged his pillow between the couch and coffee table so he would be right next to Rei, they both slid underneath their covers but still didn't feel ready to sleep. They both looked up at the ceiling in complete silence before Rei decided to speak.

"Takashi?" Rei asked quietly.

Takashi looked slightly to the left to see Rei turn on her side to look down on him. "Yeah?" He asked.

"Do you think we'll have to leave our homes tomorrow?" She looked at Takashi with concern, even in darkness, Takashi could still see her gorgeous face and those beautiful, yet worried eyes of hers.

Takashi shook his head. "I don't know, but I'm ready for anything."

Rei looked upwards towards the ceiling again, she had another question to ask. "Do you hate Hisashi?"

Takashi was caught off guard at Rei's question. "No, of course not."

"I often wondered if you did ever since we started dating." Rei whispered, not looking back down.

Takashi yawned. "Let's just try to get some sleep."

**1:20AM**

Takashi's cellphone that he had placed on the coffee table starting to ring. Takashi was drowsy and annoyed at whoever was calling him, he tried to ignore the ringing but leaned over to pick up the phone, bumping his hand on the edge of the coffee table a few times. After a few attempts, Takashi slowly grabbed the phone and plopped back down on the floor, his head landing softly on the pillow.

Takashi flipped open his cellphone and placed it next to his ear. "Hello?" He asked in a groggy tone.

"Takashi...It's me, Hisashi."

Takashi was more awake now and quickly sat back up. "Hisashi?"

Rei turned over and yawned. "What's happening?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.

Takashi looked over to Rei. "It's Hisashi, he's calling."

Rei also became more awake.

"Put your phone on speaker." Hisashi said, he sounded quiet.

Takashi pressed a button on his phone for him and Rei to listen to whatever Hisashi needed to say. Rei sat up with her hands covering her mouth, she was glad to hear from him, but nervous as to why he was speaking so quietly. Takashi quickly got up and sat closely next to Rei, they both huddled closely as Takashi held the phone close to their faces.

"There's something in the police station...They're monsters. They took away so many of them. They even killed them!" Hisashi was trying his best not to panic.

Rei grabbed Takashi's cellphone and held it closer to her face. "W-what's going on!?" Rei asked urgently. Takashi could feel her trembling.

"Ever since I've been in here, I keep hearing from the police about these animals that are out on the loose. Twenty minutes ago, a hundred of those animals stormed in. The police tried killing them...But they kept coming, I got out of my holding cell and now I'm stuck in an office. I only have a gun, but it won't hold them off for much longer."

Rei stood up from the couch, she didn't care if Takashi could see her panties.

"Hang on, I'm coming to get you!" Rei started to cry, she would do anything for the love of her life.

"NO! You and the others NEED to get out of the city as soon as you can no matter what. These things will come after you, forget about me...I'm done for. Don't even try to save me. Goodbye Rei, I love you. Takashi? Take care."

Hisashi hung up.

At the police station, the lights in the dark hallways were barely flickering. Bullet holes and bloodstains covered the walls, on the floor were many police officers and staff members. Their bodies were ripped open, their damaged organs poured out of their gaping wounds as all laid lifelessly in their own puddles of blood, some were even missing their limbs. The others who were not yet killed had smaller spider-like organisms attached to their faces, but they wouldn't be saved. It was too late.

The Queen below the city had waited for the perfect time to attack once the Special Assault Team was a safe distance away from the station, she had sent her drones in an attempt to weaken the city's defenses and produce more of their kind.

Hisashi was kneeling in a corner of the office he had locked himself into, ever since those creatures had ambushed the police, they had managed to cut the power. This had opened Hisashi's holding cell door and gave him the chance to escape. However every corner he turned into, he could see people getting slaughtered, some shooting at anything that moved, every exit was blocked off by black, horrific figures that had clawed, sliced, and bit through anyone they encountered.

Those who didn't face death would eventually, crawling on the backs of the drones were the smaller creatures, running around to find a host to place their embryo into.

Looking at the window, Hisashi could see several of those heads peering inside. They knew Hisashi was in the room. Holding his gun tightly, Hisashi shook in fear as they ripped out the door and quickly surrounded him.

Hisashi's fear turned to rage. "No way I'm going to let you monsters get me." He quietly said out loud as he pointed the handgun up to the side of his head and pulled the trigger.

"H-Hisashi?" Rei asked nervously, no response.

Rei dropped the phone and frantically put on her jeans, she was going to try to save Hisashi dispite his warnings. Takashi tried to grab after Rei but she was already heading towards the door.

"Rei wait!" He called out as he too quickly put on his jeans and started to pursue Rei who had just put on her shoes. Takashi didn't have time to put on a shirt or even shoes. Not even bothering to close the door, Takashi ran after Rei who had just went past the frontyard and was about to make a run for it on the neighborhood street.

Finally catching up to her, Takashi grabbed Rei by her wrist.

"Let me go! I need to save Hisashi!" Rei shouted as she tried to break free from Takashi's grip.

"He told us not to, and it was for good reason!" Takashi shouted back.

Rei broke free from his grip and stepped back. "You probably want those animals to kill him, don't you? Yeah...YOU DO HATE HISASHI!" Rei yelled, her voice echoing across the neighborhood.

Takashi leaned back in shock, but it soon turned to rage as he grabbed Rei by her shirt and slapped her across the cheek in an attempt to bring her back to reality. Rei's hand quickly shot up to rub the burning sensation of where Takashi had slapped her, tears were rolling down her cheeks as she remained still, not wanting to look at Takashi.

Takashi leaned in and grabbed Rei's shoulders tightly. "SNAP OUT OF IT GOD DAMMIT! Hisashi is my best friend, I don't hate him! And I certainly don't want him to die, but he was willing to warn us at what could've been the cost of his own life. His warning was an attempt to save us!"

Takashi's rage slowly began to dwindle as he saw Rei look back up at him with hopeless eyes, she couldn't hold it in anymore. Rei hugged Takashi tightly and began to cry loudly into his chest. Takashi slowly exhaled as he wrapped his arms around her and began to rub her back with one hand.

Rei looked up at Takashi, her tears showing no sign of stopping. Takashi looked at Rei with sadness in his eyes as well, he brushed away her hair and leaned in to kiss her on her forehead.

"We're getting out of here first thing in the morning...We'll get as far away as we can, I won't let those monsters come after us." Takashi whispered as their foreheads were pressed against each other, their noses barely touching.

Rei broke her embrace from Takashi and stepped back, wiping away her tears with her arm. "Let's...go back inside." She sniffled.

Takashi nodded as he held Rei close to him. They walked slowly together back into the house in silence, he could still hear Rei sniffling.

Once they were back into the dark living room and had removed their jeans, Takashi laid back down on the floor to try to go back to sleep. He was about to close his eyes when he felt Rei sliding down from the couch and laid right next to him. She held Takashi with her arm, afraid to let go. Takashi leaned to the side to face her and watched as she cried herself to sleep. A part of Takashi wanted to cry too, he had lost his best friend. But he had to remain strong.

Takashi wrapped his arm over Rei as they both held each other closely and remained like that for the rest of the night.

**7:00AM**

Takashi's eyes slowly opened, he looked over at Rei who was sleeping peacefully, but dried tears covered her face. Breathing in, he could smell food being cooked. Slowly removing Rei's arm from him, Takashi reached for his jeans nearby to put them on. As he stood up, he turned around to look at both Saeko and Fina in the kitchen standing next to each other as they were preparing breakfast for everyone to eat.

Takashi remained shirtless as he walked towards the two girls in the kitchen. Saeko looked up at Takashi as he approached her and Fina. She then turned to look back to Fina. "Do you need anymore help?" She asked.

Fina shook her head. "No, I got this." She replied, still focusing on her cooking on top of the stove.

Saeko turned to Takashi, she motioned him to follow her into the hallway. Takashi followed Saeko into the hall until she stopped at the center, away from the kitchen and living room.

"What happened? We could hear you and Miyamoto yelling outside last night." Saeko asked quietly.

Takashi looked down at the floor. A part of him wished last night was just a bad dream, but it wasn't. He looked back up to Saeko who stood in front of him, concerned.

"When everyone wakes up, I'll explain what happened." He quietly answered.

The two walked out of the hallway, Saeko went back into the kitchen to help Fina prepare everyone's breakfast. Takashi continued to head back into the living room where he could see Rei now sitting on the couch, depressed about last night's events.

Takashi reached down for his shirt that he had set on the coffee table from the night before to put it back on, he then sat down next to Rei.

"You okay?" He asked, holding her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

Rei only nodded as she looked down at her lap, but she wasn't okay.

Saya, Kohta, and Elijah had woken up and were also entering into the living room. Takashi looked back and noticed Elijah looking at him, also concerned. It appeared everyone else had known.

**7:30AM**

Everyone ate breakfast in either the living room, dining room table, or on the kitchen counter in silence. Nobody had brought up about Takashi's and Rei's loud exchange of words earlier in the night, even though they all heard it. Takashi and Rei sat close together in the couch, he looked over to Rei who was just playing with her food with her fork, she was too upset to eat.

Takashi leaned closer to Rei. "Rei, you need to eat." He said quietly.

A few seconds later, Rei started to eat her breakfast. She wasn't hungry, but knew it was important for her to eat. It may be a while for her and the others to enjoy an actual meal.

After finishing his breakfast, Takashi went into the kitchen to place his plate into the sink. Returning back into the living room, he stood in front of the flatscreen to get everyone's attention.

"Guys, listen up. I'm sure you all must be wondering what happened between Rei and I last night." Takashi closed his eyes for a few seconds before speaking up again.

Everyone looked at him, waiting to hear what he would say next.

"Hisashi was killed last night at the police station, he called saying that those animals had ambushed everyone and that we must get out of the city no matter what." Takashi said in a depressed tone.

He looked over to Elijah, who was sitting across from Fina in the dining room table. "Elijah, Fina. Rei and I are coming with you to escape the city. Do you still have that route planned out?" Takashi asked.

Elijah nodded, he got up from his chair and walked over to the side of the living room where his laptop was now fully charged. He opened the laptop and walked over to Takashi to show him the best possible route on the screen.

"Yeah, I'm thinking we should head down south. There's a village that's about a safe distance away from Tokonosu, it'll take us four days to get there if we're on foot." Elijah replied, pointing at the location displayed on a map screen.

Elijah looked back up to see Takashi nodding in agreement. "Okay, is there anyone else who wants to come with us?" He asked openly.

"I will." Saeko answered as she stood up.

"Might as well come too after what I did last night." Saya answered bluntly.

"Me too." Kohta raised his hand in response.

Takashi smiled softly at everyone's willingness to join him. "Okay, let's finish up breakfast and get ready.

**8:05AM**

Everyone had finished their breakfast and dressed up for todays trek to get out of the city. Takashi placed his hoodie in his backpack and would only wear his tank top in place. Rei would only wear her T-shirt that she had slept in earlier along with her jeans. Saya and Kohta still had on their clothes that they had worn upon arrival to Elijah and Fina's house.

Saeko switched from her yoga pants into dark blue skinny jeans, but still decided to wear her white tank top from last night.

Fina walked out of her bedroom wearing baggy cargo pants, a black T-shirt with the lower half ripped, exposing her hips, stomach, and lower back. Across the front of the shirt was the DC Shoes logo in white. Her shoes were black and orange Travis Pastrana edition DC Court Graffiks. Her bow was still attached to her quiver that she had slung around her back.

Elijah placed his laptop, cables, a headset, his ipod and earplugs in his Subaru Rally Team USA backpack. His attire was Danny Way signature skater jeans, a black T-Shirt with the word [HOONIGAN] across the chest, and his Ken Block Running Shoes.

For the final time, everyone had inspected their weapons and made sure they had everything they needed.

After exiting the house, Elijah stopped just outside the front door. "Hey guys, hold on just a sec." Elijah held up his finger as he ran back into his house, he had forgotten two things.

Going back into his living room, Elijah grabbed his Carbon Fiber skateboard that was leaning up against the wall. Sitting on his nightstand were his Ken Block Murena Sunglasses that he put on. Satisfied, he went back out to the frontyard where everyone was waiting for him.

"Really? You just went to get your stupid skateboard and sunglasses?" Saya asked, annoyed.

"Hey, look how sunny it is, summer is starting in a couple of days. Plus if we get to safety, I intend to skate. Also who knows? I could use this as a weapon." Elijah explained as he closed the front door.

He walked up to Takashi. "Well. Let's go." Elijah said as he set his skateboard onto the street and skated off, the others following him.

On both sides of Takashi were Rei and Saeko, who looked on ahead as they began to make their way out of the neighborhood streets. Behind them were Saya and Kohta, Saya had her arms crossed as she was in deep thought about the safety of her parents. Kohta's main reason for coming along was to protect Saya, no matter the cost.

Fina was in front of Takashi and the girls as she watched Elijah skate a short distance away from the group.

The group noticed people frantically packing personal belongings into cars, some were running across the street, trying to warn their other neighbors that they should leave.

"Looks like we're not the only ones who planned on leaving." Saeko said to Takashi.

Takashi looked at Saeko, then at his surroundings to see what was happening around him.

At the end of the street, Elijah stopped skating and looked to his right. He waved at the others to come up to him. As soon as the group approached him, they saw what Elijah was looking at.

On the main streets was a massive traffic jam. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people were running down the street. Some were on bicycles and mopeds, last night's events must have been reported on the news.

Takashi and Elijah looked at each other, the rest of the group standing closely behind them as they looked ahead at the chaotic scene.

"Looks like we're gonna have some setbacks." Elijah said out loud.

**WEYLAND-YUTANI SPECIMEN REPORTS: XENOMORPH DAY/NIGHT CYCLE ACTIVITY**

**Xenomorphs are known to be active during the night. Their hives are usually dormant during the daytime, however if they detect any beings close to their proximity, Xenomorphs will attempt to capture anyone foolish enough to wander close by. Survivors have learned to travel during the day and find shelter only when night looms. However this often proves useless as Xenomorphs will traverse great lengths to locate new hosts.**

Alright folks, that's Chater 9. Now here's some interesting trivia I wanted to share.

-Fina's bow is the same bow that Hawkeye uses in The Avengers.

-Elijah not having a weapon is intentional. I noticed alot of OC's are overpowered and already have guns. While Elijah will get a weapon or 2, he will start out as a very lousy fighter and will panic alot at first. But he's still willing to be brave to help out the group

-Giving Elijah a laptop was inspired by John Connor from Terminator 2. Also, Elijah is a hacker so expect his skills to come in handy.

-I'm debating whether or not, I want Fina to use a bow throughout most of the story. So if anyone has any suggestions on what type of other weapon she should use in the event she isn't able to use the bow anymore, I'm open to hear.

-There will be a side story between Elijah and Fina

-This story will also go into Terminator (No don't expect Terminators) and Blade Runner territory.

-There's an interesting backstory behind Saeko's sword...You'll just have to find out!

Anyways, I felt like this chapter was kinda rushed. But with an injury and taking painkillers, this is what I came up with. Stay tuned for the next chapter!


	10. Facing the fear for the first time

Chapter 10: Facing the fear for the first time

**9:35PM**

**Weyland-Yutani North American Headquarters**

**San Francisco, California**

The United States had now been fully aware of the Xenomorph outbreak. No more than eight major cites had fallen victim to the increasing fatalities. The American Military had taken action twelve hours earlier by forming perimeters around the affected cities. However in the West Coast of the United States, the situation was being handled rather well. Not too far off the coast was the Navy, protecting the shores of any unauthorized sailing vessels who would dare attempt to enter the country.

Airports had been closed, the Air Force had taken to the skies. Only a certain amount of non-military planes were allowed to fly, and they were being closely monitored.

The National Guard had protected Washington, Oregon, and California's statelines to prevent anyone or anything arriving from the east. However the government and military knew they needed to protect their people, it was the best solution to come up with in the meantime until a proper plan was set up.

In the brightly lit metropolis of San Francisco, Peter Weyland stood in front of his large office window on the top floor of his skyscraper, observing the other lit buildings that dwarfed his own. Looking ahead, he could see various military helicopters patrolling the skies.

"So much has happened these past couple of days, Chiyeko." Peter spoke out loud.

A large glass flat screen had erected from Peter's large office desk, on that screen displayed a live video feed of Chiyeko Yutani who was safe and secure in her office in Tokyo.

"Indeed it has. Southern and Central America has been untouched, and only a few cities in Europe are affected." Chiyeko responded through the flatscreen monitor. Peter turned from the view of his office window to face Chiyeko, in Japan the morning hours have started as he could see the sunny city of Tokyo behind her.

"No doubt this will create chaos." Peter stated as he sat down in his luxurious office chair.

"Chaos creates opportunity and productivity, Peter. A profit could be made from this situation." Said Chiyeko with a smile.

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? What do you propose?" He asked with great interest.

"Before night fell over here, I contacted Japan's Prime Minister and the Commander of the Japanese Self Defense Force offering products from our Weapons and Resources Divisions. For a price of course." She replied casually.

Peter chuckled. "Perfect, if a nation needs weapons, tools, medical equipment, our PMC troops, or even synthetics we will sell to any potential buyer." Both Peter and Chiyeko smiled at the thought desperate people wanting to buy any form of security.

Peter narrowed his eyes in thought, then looked back towards the flat screen. "No doubt our competitors will do the same thing. Even those damn companies that tried to steal our findings. Speaking of company theft, I suggest we increase our security for the Hammer Project. Your weapon that you have offered is no doubt something our competitors would want for themselves." Peter suggested, his hands interlocking on his desk.

"Trust me, precautions have already been taken on my part. I trust that you will do the same." Chiyeko said, fully prepared for whenever Peter brought up the project.

"Yes. In the meantime, the board of directors will inform division representatives to contact various government and military organizations throughout the world to look for buyers." Peter said, picking up his phone.

"Perfect." Chiyeko smiled.

**Tokonosu City, Japan**

**8:30AM**

The group had barely covered any distance. With the massive traffic jams, various people crowding the roads and sidewalks, and the lack of law enforcement to restore order, the city streets were nothing but people creating panic with no sense of direction.

Takashi and the others were walking along a heavily crowded sidewalk, they were often pushed aside by other people who were desperately trying to get ahead of them. The group was becoming quite annoyed.

"Jesus Christ, all this because of a bunch of stupid animals? OW! Watch it, asshole!" Saya yelled out angrily at a man who had bumped into her rushing by, almost knocking her off her feet. The man didn't even bother to look back to apologize as he continued bumping past other people.

Rei held onto Takashi's arm tightly, never before had she or anyone else in the group have seen people behave this way. Saeko would calmly dodge anyone trying to run by. Kohta being the heavy set boy that he was, often got bumped into.

Fina almost got into a fight when another person tried pushing her to move faster, she hated being rushed. Elijah had to carry his skateboard by his side due to the massive crowds.

Takashi groaned. "This is ridiculous, how are we supposed to get out of the city now?" He asked openly in frustration.

"Maybe we should just head back to the house and try to leave again later." Rei suggested, looking ahead in worry.

"No, we have already agreed to escape the city. We must continue pushing forward." Answered Saeko, moving aside for people behind her to run past.

Takashi looked over his shoulder, behind the group the crowds were just as chaotic as up front. At this rate, it wouldn't be possible to get out of the city by dusk.

As the group continued to move amongst the crowd, a couple of them looked above to see helicopters circle the sky. They appeared to be news helicopters, persumably filming live footage of the current situation for viewers to see on television.

Minutes have passed until Takashi could see just past the crowds the end of an alleyway just up ahead. Peering in, Takashi noticed there was nobody in sight and waved for the group to get out of the sidewalk and into the shaded alley for a quick break.

"There just has to be another way out of here." Takashi said openly to the group as they formed a circle just a few feet away from street they had come off of.

"I think a bigger problem is that we don't know just how long the traffic and crowds are past this part of the city." Kohta mentioned, peeking out of the alleyway.

Elijah noticed at the right corner end of the alley a traffic camera positioned just several feet above the group.

"I got an idea." Elijah said out loud as he leaned his skateboard up against the alley wall and unslung his packback.

The group gathered behind him, wondering what he was planning to do.

Elijah walked up to a pole where the camera was placed and looked closely at a panel cover secured tightly. "I need a screwdriver or something." He said out loud as he raised his sunglasses up to his head to get a better look at the panel.

Kohta quickly removed his packback and started to look inside for a swiss army knife, one of the accessories equipped on it was a screwdriver. "Here." Said Kohta as he handed the tool to Elijah.

Elijah swiftly loosened the screws from all four corners of the panel cover and simply dropped it onto the ground. Returning the knife back to Kohta, Elijah removed his backpack as well to get out his laptop and a cable.

"What are you doing?" Takashi asked as he and the others closely watched Elijah connect the cable from his laptop to an input port inside the pole.

"Remember when I said I can do some really cool things with this laptop?" Asked Elijah while he was quickly typing various keys.

Takashi nodded. "Yeah."

Elijah leaned to the side to show everyone what was being displayed on the screen. It was a layout of Tokonosu in the form of a grid, each line was connected by countless numbers of dots.

"Cities today have their own network. They use that network for stuff like finding out where accidents are happening, if power is out in a certain area, and whatnot." Elijah explained.

"Right now, I'm in the city's traffic camera system. I can bring up live video feed from any camera in Tokonosu to see how things are up ahead." Elijah pointed at a particular dot that was blinking brightly. "That dot is the camera I'm currently tapped into right now, but like I said I can easily switch to a different camera as long as I'm connected into the network." Elijah pressed the dot on the laptop's touch screen to bring up another smaller window to the lower right side, it was a video feed from the selected camera that pointed ahead to catch a much higher and better glimpse of the streets beyond. Takashi looked up to see the camera, then back down at the laptop screen.

"Let me see this." Saya said as she quickly took the laptop out of Elijah's hands, not waiting for an answer.

Saya began to scan throughout the system grid. Every so often she would select another camera's video feed to see the conditions in other streets, so far they were just as hectic as the one they had just come off of.

"Figures, just about every street in the entire upper half of the city are full of people and traffic." Saya muttered as she continued going over various video feeds. Her eyes then widened with interest as she noticed an interesting pattern of video feeds in certain parts of the city.

"I have an idea, if we stick to alleys and backstreets we can manage to move faster rather than staying on the mainstreets. There's almost no people going through those." Saya pointed out as she lifted the laptop for Takashi to see, the video feed showed a backstreet with very little people going by.

Looking down the alley the group was currently in, Takashi did notice he and the group were the only people. Just at the opposite end of the alley was another street. "Sounds like a plan." He said in encouragement.

Saya handed Elijah back his laptop and turned to face Takashi. "We'll have to cross alot of streets."

Takashi nodded. "I'll keep that in mind."

Looking ahead, Takashi ran down the empty alleyway, the others following close behind him. Elijah quickly placed his laptop and cable back into his backpack, lowered his sunglasses, and grabbed his skateboard to skate behind the group.

Saya's suggested alternative route proved to be effective. With every turn into a backstreet and alley, they managed to move much faster. It was crossing the intense traffic that was a hassle.

The group would run either in front of cars, or jump on top of them in order for them to keep their pace. Kohta was panting heavily due to his lack of stamina, he would lean up against a vehicle to take a quick breath from running only to be honked at. This annoyed Saya so she grabbed his arm to pull him along with her. Takashi and Rei held hands tightly as they weaved past the traffic and tried to avoid getting hit. Fina and Saeko being very agile, would simply jump over vehicles without struggle, often getting honked at. They would simply look at each other and smile.

"HEY WATCH IT YOU GODDAMN HOODLUM!" A trucker yelled out his window, shaking his fist at Elijah who had just skated in front of him as he was about to drive forward.

"Oh fuck you." Elijah casually shot back as he stuck his middle middle finger up in the air, enraging the trucker.

"Stupid ass kids, no respect these days..." Grumbled the trucker as he leaned back in his seat.

**10:00AM**

"Morita!" Takashi said out loud as he stopped suddenly in the center of another alley. The others had also came to a stop, curious as to why Takashi was no longer running.

"Who?" Saya asked with a curious expression.

"Morita's my friend. I need to call him, he should come with us." Takashi answered as he pulled out his cell phone from his front pocket. As Takashi began going down his contacts list, the rest of the group decided to use the time to regain their breath and enjoy the shade the alley was offering. The only one struggling was Kohta. He was leaning against a wall, his head hanging down as he tried to steady his breathing.

"I...hate...running..." He wheezed.

Takashi held his phone up to his ear. After a few rings, Morita finally picked up.

"Dude, Komuro! Have you been watching the news!? Some animals fucked up the police station last night!" Morita answered suddenly, aware that Takashi was calling him.

"I know, I know. But listen, I have a question." Takashi asked, peeking out the end of the alley in an attempt to see what street the group was on.

"Alright, shoot." Morita answered.

"I'm with friends, we're planning on getting out of the city. Do you want to come with us?" Takashi asked. He and Rei looked at each other for a brief moment before Takashi focused his attention back at the busy street ahead.

"Getting out of the city? Who you with?" Asked Morita with interest.

Takashi turned around to look at the group who had looked back at him, waiting to see what he would do next.

"Miyamoto, Busujima, Takagi, Hirano, Prost, and Senna." Takashi answered as he looked at each friend individually while listing off their names. He began to pace back and forth.

"Really? Wow." Morita said, somewhat surprised at who was with him.

"So are you in or out?" Takashi asked, somewhat urgently. He wanted to make this call quick.

"I'm in. Where can I meet you guys?" Morita asked instantly.

"Meet us at the Ebisu playground at noon, we'll be heading in that direction. If we're not there, just keep waiting. We'll make it eventually." Takashi instructed.

"Got it." Morita simply replied.

Takashi was about to hang up before another thing came to mind. "Oh Morita, do you have anything you could use as a weapon?" He asked.

There was silence for a brief moment, Takashi could hear Morita sigh on the other line. "No, I don't." Morita answered, somewhat disappointed.

Takashi exhaled as well. "Ok, well just head to the playground. I'll explain more to you when we get there." Takashi closed up his cellphone, finishing his conversation with Morita. He then turned to face the group once again. "Alright guys, a friend of mine will be joining us. It's Morita, he'll be meeting up with us at the Ebisu Playground in a couple hours. We'll also use that time to take a break, but as soon as we're rested up we're going to keep moving." He explained.

"I still don't know who this guy is." Saya said with a confused look on her face, trying to remember who this friend Takashi was on the phone with.

Takashi rolled his eyes, how could she not know of Morita's three failed attempts at asking her out? They even met briefly.

"Let's just go." Takashi instructed as he and the others ran out of the alley.

**Fujimi High School**

**11:30AM**

Schools were closed across the nation, the Special Assault Team had set up base in the school's gymnasium. The night before after a joint briefing between them and the police, the SAT had set out to patrol in armored vehicles and armed with assault weapons to take watch for any possible locations for they called the "bugs" to emerge out of. Had they encountered the bugs, the SAT would fire upon them and relay the information to the police and it would be up to them to decide what measure would need to be taken in order to protect the people.

However after losing contact, a small squad of SAT troops were sent back to the station only to find the slaughtered bodies of police officers, staff workers, arrested criminals, and a teenage boy that had his brains blown out. No doubt the bugs were responsible, however they had long escaped the station.

Makeshift tables were positioned neatly across the gym. Computers, maps, files, weapons and ammunition were placed on top of each desk. Scattered about were over two thousand SAT troops either positioned near a table performing their assigned tasks, or running to their designated post.

Walking side by side between the rows of tables were Rika and Tajima, still in their tactical gear that they had worn yesterday.

"Shit, all this happened in just twenty-fuckin'-four hours since we went into the sewers." Tajima muttered to Rika.

Rika lifted up her hand to take another puff of her cigar, she didn't give a damn if she was in a facility that forbade smoking, she was under enough stress as it is. She wasn't able to call Shizuka in the morning like she promised.

"I so can't wait to see those fucking things again, I'm just ready to blow away as many as I can." Rika answered bitterly.

As the two made it to the farthest end, they turned around to face the entire gym, watching the troops at work.

"Call them in." Rika instructed. She dropped her cigar onto the floor and crushed it with her boot.

Tajima stepped up and placed his fingers in his mouth, whistling sharply.

The troops looked up from their tables and ran over to stand in formation in front of Rika and Tajima. She looked around and waited until their attention was focused on her.

"First off, I'd like to thank our reinforcements for volunteering to assist us. It means alot." Rika noticed the reinforcements nodding back at her in one section of the formation.

Rika placed her hands behind her back as she started to pace back and forth. "Now we get down to business, out there the city is in chaos. People are starting to get an idea of what's happening, our job is to attempt to regain order of the city. What I want is for squads to position themselves at various points of the city to ensure that people leave in an orderly fashion. If anyone starts to get rowdy, only engage them with non-lethal force." Rika instructed loudly.

The troops nodded.

"I'll need at least three squads for escort duty. A bunch of wealthy and people of importance wish to leave the city by plane. I'll need one squad to guard the docks, another to escort said people via ferry, and the third squad at the airport." Rika continued.

Rika paused for a moment before stating her final order. "Finally, a twenty five block radius of Tokonosu's central district must be blocked off from the public. It's come to our attention that somewhere underneath that area of the city is where those bugs are hiding underground. And of course, should ANY of you encounter those bugs...Well, you know what to do. Understood?" Rika asked.

"YES MA'AM!" The troops shouted.

Rika smirked and nodded. "Good, now let's get to work."

**12:05PM**

**Ebisu Playground**

After what felt like hours running through a maze, the group had finally made their way to the playground. Takashi could see Morita sitting on a bench, he was looking down almost about to fall asleep out of boredom. His attire was simply a worn out red T-shirt, faded jeans, and white running shoes.

"Morita!" Takashi called out.

Morita's head shot back up to see Takashi waving at him, Morita returned the wave and stood up from the bench. He then ran up to Takashi and the group that followed closely behind him.

"Hey what's up?" Morita asked as he and Takashi raised their hands up for a quick high five.

"Alot of crazy things have happened since last night." Answered Takashi quietly, looking down at the ground as he and Morita walked side by side to sit back on the bench.

The playgrounds were empty and quiet, petals had fallen off the cherry blossom trees only to land on the neatly trimmed grass and concrete pathways. However in the distance, the group could hear car horns and shouting.

Looking over his shoulder, Takashi looked at the rest of the group. "Break time." He said out loud.

While Takashi and Morita sat down at the bench, the group had scattered off into various parts of the playground. Kohta dropped his backpack onto the ground and collapsed onto the soft grass face first out of pure exhaustion. A slide was positioned several feet behind the bench, Rei sat at the bottom of the slide and looked down at her lap, she would glance back up to look at Takashi conversing with Morita. It was at that moment when she was alone that Hisashi came back into her mind, she tried her best to fight back the tears that wanted to flow out of her eyes.

Saya decided to sit down at a nearby picnic table, she simply crossed her arms and lowered her head down to rest. Saeko however didn't feel the need to take a break, she decided to explore the park that the playground was connected to. She found herself looking at trees and plants that she had walked by, she then looked up to observe chirping birds flying above her.

Saeko suddenly stopped walking, she began to realize that this brief moment of peace may not happen again. Looking over her shoulder, Saeko had realized she had strayed too far from the group. She decided to turn around and walk along a pond that was a shorter distance away from the others.

Fina simply laid on her back with her quiver and attached bow next to her. She spent her time looking at the clear blue sky. She was disappointed that there were no clouds out, otherwise she would spend the time looking at clouds that reminded her of certain shapes.

Elijah was still energenic, there was a stairway leading into the playgrounds with a long rail going down it. He set his backpack on another bench and decided to use the time to perform specific skateboard tricks over the stairs and would grind over the rail once in a while. Very rarely would he bail out from performing an aerial trick or lose balance from a grind and fall off his skateboard.

"Wow...That's fucking crazy." Morita quietly said.

Takashi had explained to Morita the events of what happened the night before, along with the death of Hisashi.

Takashi leaned back to look directly up at the sky. He appeared calm, but inside he was still very much in shock.

"I know, all this in one night. How could something like this happen so suddenly?" Takashi asked silently, still looking upwards.

Morita also looked up at the sky. "So where do you guys plan on going once you get out?" He asked.

"Senna mentioned that if we keep going south, there's a small village. It'll take us a few days, but with all these people crowding the streets, I seriously doubt we'll make it out of here by nightfall." Takashi answered.

Morita looked at Takashi. "But if those things end up coming out at night, what will you guys do?" He asked.

Takashi's eyes widened slightly at the realization. They had no shelter to go to, and they would be much too far away to even attempt to go back to their homes. He then remembered that in his backpack was his stun baton and butterfly knife, and nearly everyone in the group had a weapon of some sort of their own.

"We'll keep moving forward even if it takes us all night. And if we do come across any of those animals, we'll fight them." Takashi answered, there was a hint of anger in his response.

"I still don't have a weapon, but I'll come with you guys anyway." Said Morita as he looked over his shoulder to see the group scattered about. He was a little excited that two girls he had major crushes on were with Takashi, but didn't express it openly.

"I got a butterfly knife, you can use that. If we're lucky, we'll look for a better weapon." Takashi unzipped his backpack that he had placed between his legs and reached in to look for the blade. Once he found it, he handed it to Morita, who smiled at the offering.

The two boys noticed Saya with her hands on her hips walking towards them. "I noticed we never packed any lunch, you got something planned out? Or do we have to resort to cannibalism?" She asked sarcastically.

Takashi could feel his stomach growl quietly. "Oh yeah, um..." He then reached for his wallet that was in one of his back pockets. He pulled it out to open it, it was still filled with a large amount of money.

Takashi then stood up to to find Rei who was still sitting at the bottom of the slide, he also noticed Saeko returning from her brief walk around the park. He motioned for the two girls to approach him.

"There's a mini-mart just across the street on the other side of the playground, could you two go over there and get some snacks and drinks for all of us?" Takashi asked as he handed the two girls some money.

They both nodded. Saeko had to remove her belt that held her sheathed sword so that she wouldn't frighten the clerk when she entered. "Will you please hold onto this while I go over there?" She asked.

Takashi simply nodded and took the weapon from Saeko, the two girls then ran side by side across the playground to purchase whatever food and drinks they could get at the mini mart.

Only several minutes had passed until the two girls had returned holding in their hands plastic bags filled with foods and beverages. The group spent their lunch break eating at a nearby picnic table in silence. The foods were simple deli made sandwichs and small bags of chips, while the beverages were sodas and energy drinks. There was extra food still in the bags, Rei and Saeko felt that in a later time everyone would need to eat again.

"Okay so I know another way we should all go." Morita spoke openly after taking a drink of his soda.

The group looked up from their meals at Morita. "If we're all going south, we should walk along the train tracks that are just east of here. After that we'll have to run through a construction site." He explained.

Takashi thought about the suggested route and nodded. "Okay, how long do you think it would take to get to the construction site?" He asked.

"Four and a half hours at least. When night falls, I know some abandoned warehouses in that area we can spend the night in." Morita answered.

"Anyone want to go for it?" Takashi asked the others.

"Do we have to sleep in a warehouse?" Saya asked. She appeared to look disgusted, the thought of her even stepping foot in a dirty werehouse was something she was nearly about to object to.

"Well I don't have enough money to get us a room at a five star hotel, so yes we'll have to." Takashi answered, a bit sarcastically than he intended.

Saya sighed. She couldn't object to it.

The others simply nodded, they had no choice.

Looking at the time on his cell phone, Takashi got up from the picnic table and put on his backpack, soon after he gathered up his food. "Let's go, we'll eat on the way."

**4:45PM**

The group had walked in a single file line along the railroad tracks, to their left at the distance was the city of Tokonosu. While the buildings had covered what was happening on the streets below them, they knew there was no sign of improvement. While it wouldn't be for a few more hours until the sun would set, the group noticed that the blue sky was now beginning to turn orange. It was looking more and more likely that they would have to find shelter in a warehouse soon.

Morita was leading the group, minutes later he came to a stop.

"There's the construction site." He pointed out.

The construction site was a tall building that had been partially assembled, on the site's construction field were various heavy machinery and vehicles that had been left by the construction crew, most likely they have been abandoned due to some of the crew's fellow workers that have gone missing. The group had gone off the tracks and slid down a steep dirt hill, only Kohta fell face first when they stopped at the bottom. He quickly stood up to brush off the dirt from his clothes.

"I wish there was more concrete, I'd love to skate this place." Elijah looked around the site. It was a skater's paradise almost.

"Yeah well there's no time for that even if there was. Come on, we need to keep moving." Takashi ordered.

The group quietly walked together across the open dirt field, passing by equipment and construction vehicles. Kohta felt he was in the middle of a western corral, the silence made him feel alert, as if a shootout would happen soon. Everyone kept an eye out for the possiblity of any animals that would approach them, the site was much too quiet. Saya walked behind Kohta rather closely, she was almost tempted to hold onto him.

"Not gonna lie, I'm gettin' the creeps now." Elijah said openly as raised his sunglasses up to his head to get a clearer look at his surroundings.

"D-Don't start with that." Saya nervously shot back, the large construction vehicles left shadows on the ground. With some imagination, they almost looked like monsters about to grab her own shadow.

"Aw c'mon, they're just shadows." Kohta said over his shoulder with a smile. He could sense Saya was getting nervous.

"SHUT UP! You think I don't know that!?" Saya yelled out angrily as she hit Kohta on the back, her voice echoed throughout the empty site. "Just...keep moving." She said much more quietly that time around.

As soon as Kohta moved forward, Saya crossed her arms tightly as she continued to follow him, still nervously looking around.

The group had walked below the half assembled building. While the afternoon sun offered some light out on the field, the building's bottom floor was much more dark, but faintly visible enough to see. Large pillars had held it up for support, the ground had transitioned from neatly paved dirt into a smooth concrete, creating faint echoes of footsteps. Elijah decided to take advantage of the new surface and skate ahead just past Morita who was still leading the group.

"Don't go too far off." Takashi called out.

"Don't worry, I ain't going far." Elijah replied back, watching his footwork as he performed a quick kickflip.

Rei was very close to Takashi on one side, while on the other side Saeko would scan her surroundings. She didn't sense any potential danger, but she wouldn't let her guard down anytime soon. Fina casually walked forward with her arms crossed, she yet out a yawn. She was mostly bored rather than tired.

**5:15PM**

Several blocks beyond the construction site was a large abandoned warehouse that was out in the open, many windows were broken and the walls were spray painted due to vandals. The concrete that surrouned the warehouse was cracked with weeds beginning to grow out. Just behind the warehouse was a river with a sewage runoff a short ways away.

"Usually my band goes there whenever we have no other place to practice, it's pretty big and empty inside." Morita pointed at the large structure. "You wanna rest there or find someplace else?" He asked, looking at Takashi who was also looking at the warehouse.

Turning around, Takashi could see only a couple of his friends looking tired. Saeko was still alert, Rei let out a small yawn, Elijah was kicking rocks on the ground, Fina simply looked back at him, and Saya was looking rather reluctant to go inside, and Kohta sighed as he wiped off a noticeable amount of sweat from his forehead.

"Don't have much of a choice." Takashi answered.

Morita ran up to open a door positioned to the side of the large building, he peeked in and as he expected, it was empty.

Looking back out, he waved at the others to walk inside with him. Once inside, there was nothing but vast emptiness on the bottom floor of the warehouse. On both the left and right sides were long walkways just next to the broken windows. The broken windows offered just a small portion of sunlight, at a distance the group could hear the faint echoes of water dripping from pipes up above.

"It's so...dirty in here." Saya said out loud as she cringed while looking around.

"Well if you want to sleep outside, go ahead." Takashi called out.

Saya could feel some tingling movements crawling up her back, it felt like a spider. She screamed in fear and turned around, only to see that it was actually Elijah who crawled the tips of his fingers up Saya's back. He stood back as he laughed. "I'm sorry, I just had to do that." He said between laughs.

Saya balled up her fists and was about to hit Elijah before he rolled away on his skateboard.

"You do that again, I'm gonna beat you with that stupid skateboard!" She angrily yelled out at the top of her lungs. She could hear Kohta hold back a chuckle before she narrowed her eyes at him and punched his arm. "Shut up!" She yelled again.

"Ow! I'm sorry, I just thought it was kind of funny." Kohta answered innocently, trying to cover his smile with his hand.

Saya closed her eyes and shook her head, she then stomped off to be a short distance away from him.

"Um, not that I'm complaining but are we really going to be sleeping on the floor?" Rei asked as she looked down at the dusty concrete.

Takashi turned to look at her. "I know it sucks, but this will have to do." Takashi answered.

Rei then smiled at Takashi. "Okay, but I'm using you as a pillow." Takashi smiled back and wrapped his arm over Rei's shoulders.

"Hey, help me with something." Morita called out as he waved for Takashi to follow him to one side of the warehouse.

The two returned back to the group carrying an open oil drum, it was partially filled with torn paper.

Takashi and Morita set the drum down close to the center of the warehouse floor. "Does anyone have matches or a lighter?" Morita asked the group.

"I do." Rei reached in her front pocket and handed Morita her lighter, Morita leaned into the drum and pulled out a piece of paper. Using the lighter, Morita had set the paper on fire.

"There we go." Morita smiled as he dropped the burning paper back into the drum, igniting the rest of the trash. The purpose of the fire was to offer light inside the warehouse rather than heat.

The group had circled around as they all looked at the dancing fire in silence. Nobody had thought of anything to talk about.

Elijah sighed. "So...Yeah." He said awkwardly in an attempt to break the silence.

"Yeah really, what's there to do in the meantime?" Fina asked, looking at the group for suggestions.

Morita thought for a second until he thought of an idea. "I know, how 'bout we talk about how awesome it is that there's no school now?" He excitedly asked.

Takashi couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. "Yeah, it is pretty cool." He replied. Takashi then looked confused. "Wait, no school?" He asked.

Morita nodded. "Yeah, because of these animals there's no school. I'm beginning to like these th-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a dark figure had leaped out from the darkness and grabbed Morita from above, he let out a scream from the sudden ambush.

"Oh FUCK!" Elijah shouted.

The group backed away from the figure that the bright orange flames revealed. It had pinned down Morita

Morita looked up frozen in horror at the tall monster that laid on top of him. A loud hiss escaped from its drooling mouth as it opened, revealing a second smaller mouth that had extended outwards. The monster lifted its claws to caress Morita's face.

Morita quickly snapped back to reality and pulled his butterfly knife out from one of his front pockets. After twirling it open, Morita stabbed the side of the dark figure. The sudden pain caused the creature to arch back and scream in pain, but not without Morita also letting out a painful scream of his own.

The blood from the creature had melted the small blade and began to pour onto Morita's hand. Morita gripped his wrist with his other remaining hand as he watched with wide frightened eyes the corrosive blood melting away his skin, muscles, and bones leaving a bloody and flesh colored sizzling puddle on the ground.

Shivering in fear, Morita looked up to see the now angered creature leaning over him. With a quick swipe, the animal's claws had ripped open Morita's body. Revealing his cracked ribcage, torn muscles, and bloody organs that had now popped out of his body.

"MORITA!" Takashi yelled out at the top of his lungs as he looked at the creature that had cut open his friend.

Morita laid motionless below the monster, however he was still alive. He began to gurgle and choke on his own blood and saliva that began to flow out of his mouth. Without hesitation and with all the rage he could gather, Takashi charged towards the creature.

However the creature was much faster than he was. It whipped its tail around Takashi's ankles, causing him to trip over. It didn't even bother to turn around. Takashi held his hands out as he braced for the fall onto the ground, the ground scraping his hands and knees. Raising his head, Takashi was face to face with the monster who held out its bloody claws.

Before the monster could act, Takashi heard multiple gunshots from behind. He closed his eyes tightly and covered his head with his arms, but could still hear the gunfire and the ear piercing screams of pain that the creature had let out. Hearing a loud thud, Takashi moved away his arms and opened his eyes to see that the creature had now collapsed onto its back and laid lifelessly on the ground, more of its blood began to pour out its body and formed a smoking puddle around it.

"Gotcha." Kohta whispered as he smiled sadistically, pointing his glock outwards with one hand.

Takashi quickly got up from the ground and was about to run over to Morita before he and the others could hear distance shrieks and hisses that quickly drew closer and closer. The fire from the drum only offered just a portion of orange light, while all the corners and ceilings were nothing but darkness.

Elijah held up his skateboard as if he was ready to swing it at anything that would come to him. His grip was shaky. "Shit, I think more of those things are coming. What the fuck do we do?" He asked nervously while he looked all around the warehouse to anticipate another ambush.

Emerging from the darkness behind Elijah, another monster much similar to the one Kohta had just killed was about to pounce on him. Elijah noticed through the corner of his eye on the right side a flash of a steel blade moving past the side of his face, causing Elijah to freeze up and close his eyes tightly.

Elijah quickly spun around and stepped back as he saw that the monster had that nearly grabbed him had been decapitated, Saeko stood with her back facing him, her sword hanging out from her hand. She calmly looked down upon the headless creature that she had killed.

Saeko turned to face Elijah, then spotted two more of those sinister monsters crawling on the ceiling just behind him.

"We fight." She answered as she went into a battle stance and raised her sword up to continue fighting.

"Takashi!" Rei called out as she thrown the stun baton to Takashi.

Grabbing the rubber grip with one hand, Takashi flicked the baton with his wrist making the metal rod extend outwards. With a simple flip of the baton's switch, the extended rod began to glow and eletric bolts began to hover over it.

Takashi looked above him as he saw the two remaining monsters looking down, they both hissed as one dropped from the ceiling and extended its claws out to grab Takashi.

With all the strength he could gather, Takashi swung the stun baton and hit the monster's unsually shaped head just before it could grab him. The impact from the baton briefly electrocuted the creature as it twitched on the ground, Takashi was about to strike again before the black being kicked itself up from the ground and was ready to charge at him.

Rei ran up from behind Takashi and held out her hairspray can with one hand and the lighter just in front of the can with the other. While scared, Rei was determined to fight back. Pressing down the top button, the spray flew out and ignited once it made contact with the small flame.

Rei walked forward as the flame was beginning to make contact with the creature, causing it to fall on its back and crawl back in a crabwalk.

"Get out of the way!" Fina called out. She had removed her bow from her quiver and had an arrow pulled back, ready to release it.

Rei quickly looked behind her to see Fina's now extended bow pointed directly at her, she quickly ran to the side and stopped next to Takashi, allowing Fina to finally release the arrow from the bow's pullstring.

Takashi and Rei watched as the arrow flew across the warehouse with intense speed. The creature had no time to react as the arrow had finally made its way into the creature's opened mouth.

The creature was leaned against a wall as it began to flail about and scream in pain, blood was pouring out from its razor sharp teeth, melting away half of the arrow that had pierced through it. Seconds later, the creature had finally died as it laid back against the wall, its arms laying by its sides and its head hanging down.

Saya was holding onto Kohta tightly as she closed her eyes from the bright flashes emerging out from the glock's muzzle. Kohta had finally emptied his rounds onto the final creature as it too fell back, the impact from the bullets had left the creature's head cracked.

The group had finally faced these animals for the first time, nearly everyone had a different emotion from this first ever encounter.

With their weapons now lowered, the fighters had breathed a sigh of relief that they had came out alive. The smell of gunfire, smoke from whatever the blood that had spilled out from the dead animals had touched, and burning paper had filled the warehouse.

"Fuck." Fina whispered in frustration. She stood in front of the creature she had killed and noticed that the arrow she released was partially melted and fell onto the ground between the creature's legs, now just half the length it once was. Elijah stood behind her, clenching his skateboard tightly to his chest as he nervously looked around.

Kohta had ejected the empty clip from the glock and removed a new one out from one of the pockets of his military jacket so that he could reload. Saya looked around her at the dead bodies of the animals and noticed that their blood was the same color as acid, and just as corrosive. However now wasn't the time to bring it up.

Saeko had also noticed the potency of the blood and looked down at her sword. Her eyes were widened in amazement as she noticed that the blood simply slid down the groove of the blade and would only burn the concrete floor as it dripped down. The blood had no effect on her weapon. After the final drips of blood came down her blade, Saeko slid her sword back into its sheath. She then turned around to see where Takashi was.

Takashi could hear Morita still gurgling a few feet away from him. Takashi turned off his stun baton and ran over to Morita, kneeling down next to his side.

"Morita..." Takashi whispered as he looked down at Morita in horror. During the fight, Morita tried to push his stomach and intestines back into his body with his one remaining hand, however his insides still dangled out.

The rest of the group walked up to stand around Takashi and Morita, a couple of them couldn't look at the sickening sight and had to look away.

"Ko-Komuro..." Morita whispered faintly. That was his final word before Morita's head landed softy onto the bloodly floor, his body now relaxed as the rest of Morita's life had now left him. Takashi shook violently as he stared into Morita's dead eyes.

Saeko raised her head up to look around the warehouse. "We need to leave, more of those animals might come." She said out loud.

Rei leaned over Takashi and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Takashi." She whispered, trying her best to avoid looking at Morita's corpse.

Takashi immediately stood up and bolted out from the warehouse in the very same door they had entered. The rest of his friends following behind him, trying their best to catch up.

The sun was now setting, Takashi had no sense of direction as to where he was going as he ran through the empty industrial streets. He nearly forgot his friends were following him. His vision was blurry from the tears that had begun to roll down his cheeks. However it wasn't from sadness, it was from pure anger. Twenty four hours had not even passed and these animals had already claimed the lives of two of his friends, never in his life could he ever imagine having so much hate being built up inside him.

He would gladly kill as many as these animals as he could. He wanted revenge. His fingernails were digging deeply into the rubber grip of his stun baton.

Takashi was unaware that Saeko and Rei were looking at him with worried eyes, no doubt Morita's death had affected him badly.

Saya, Kohta, Fina, and Elijah simply ran behind in pure silence, nobody was willing to speak up.

**6:45PM**

**Rika's Apartment**

Dispite Rika's warnings, Shizuka stood out of the apartment balcony as she watched the afternoon sun beginning to set behind the city skyline. She was depressed at her lonely state and hoped Rika would call.

Shizuka lowered her head and noticed in the corner of her eye, a small group of exhausted teenagers walking down the street from the left. Leaning over the rail and squinting her eyes to get a better look, Shizuka realized that most of them were Fujimi High students.

"Hey! You shouldn't be out! Haven't you paid attention to the news!?" She shouted while waving her arms in an attempt to get the teenage group's attention.

Takashi raised his head after staring at the ground for a long period of time to see the high school nurse, Shizuka Marikawa standing above them on the apartment balcony.

Rei smiled with relief and stood in front of Takashi and the others. "Can we please come in? We have nowhere to go!" Rei shouted back, with a pleading look on her face.

Shizuka held up her finger and ran back into the apartment. The group stood in front of a steel gate, and saw their high school nurse walk out of the apartment front door and running down the stairs.

"Just what in the world are you kids doing out here?" Shizuka scolded as she opened the front gate and motioned for the teens to come inside.

"It's a really long story." Saya answered, letting out a sigh soon afterwords.

Shizuka stood at the bottom of the stairway and watched each of the teenagers dragging themselves one by one up the stairway. She didn't know what happened to them, but sensed that they have been through alot today.

Shizuka then made her way back up the stairs and stood in front of the tired teenagers, her arms crossed. She appeared to look stern, yet worried.

"Well, I'm sure you can fill me in on the details. But for your safety, all of you will have to stay here. It'll be too dangerous for you all to be out on the streets at night." She said in a soft, yet stern tone.

Shizuka opened the door and stood to the side, allowing the teens to walk inside the apartment one by one. Takashi was the last one to enter, but not before looking out to see the setting sun and the darkened city skyline. He then turned back to face Shizuka.

"Thank you." Takashi said with a small, somewhat forceful smile.

Shizuka smiled in return. "You're welcome, now please get inside."

Takashi nodded and calmly walked into the apartment where he and the rest of his friends began to untie their shoes. Shizuka stood out to look at the sun one last time.

"I hope you're safe, Rika." Shizuka whispered before finally going back inside the apartment.

**WEYLAND-YUTANI AFTER REPORT - ZONES**

**Many governments throughout the World have designated affected or so-to-be affected Xenomorph locations in a simple color code. The colors mean the following:**

**GREEN: No known Xenomorph activity, minimal military presence.**

**YELLOW: Heavy Military presence, at-risk of becoming a RED zone.**

**RED: Known location of Xenomorph activity. Ariel and combat Synthetic soldiers used for constant survallance.**

**BLUE: An area that has noted conflicts, but currently unknown if Xenomorphs were the cause. (NOTE: One must take into consideration that these attacks were done by none other than Xenomorph Specimens)**

Well, there you go! Chapter 10 is in the books! Next chapter will focus more on Elijah and Fina, and the introduction of Alice and Zeke. Also, expect more action next chapter! See you then!


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